Alola League Victors
by Luckenhaft
Summary: Ash faces a different form of adversity early on in the Alola League as he is pitted against his classmates. Regardless of having to be the one who ruins his friend's fun time at the League, Ash is determined to show the Alola Region what an aspiring Pokémon Master is capable of. Now if only he could take the time to actually figure out what a Pokémon Master really is. T to be safe
1. The Preliminaries

**AN: So we are less than a week away from the Alola League episodes. So I decided to make this before the League kills my hype for it, by not doing what I hope it does. This first couple of chapters aren't necessarily what I hope will happen. For the most part. Also I prefer Lillie's Vulpix's Japanese nickname over the English one. Same with Lana's Eevee.**

* * *

**The Preliminaries: Ash vs. Lillie! Fire and Frost!**

"Don't hold back, Ash!" Hearing that only made Ash cringe internally cursing whoever decided that HE would be the one who has to fight Lillie in this conference's preliminary round.

_'You'll wish I had.' _Ash thinks to himself whilst forcing on a smile hoping Lillie won't be too upset over hurting Shiron as he sends out Torracat. _'And maybe Iris will stop calling me a little kid, Samson will stop making those dumb faces, and Tepig's will learn Fly. Actually that's not a bad ideal to try with Pignite. Would certainly be a nice surprise if I take on Trip again.'_

Ash shakes his head dispelling such thoughts as the referee announces the League's first battle to start. Lillie opens her mouth about to order Shiron to use Hail, but doesn't get a chance as Torracat lunges forward with a Flame Charge quickly forcing the girl to order Shiron to retreat.

_'Can't let Lillie set up her Hail, Snow Cloak, and Aurora Veil combo. Shiron will be all the more troublesome to take out if I let that happen. Sorry, Lillie.' _"Corner her, and use Fire Fang!" Ash calls out as Torracat responds by snarling as flames erupt from his mouth as he backs Shiron into a corner of the rocky arena.

Shiron quickly fires off an ineffectual Powder Snow at Torracat trying to drive him back, it does little as Torrcat closes the distance and bites down into Shiron's leg earning a pained yip from the ice fox as Lillie squeaks in fright unable to think about having Shiron use Tackle to force Torracat to disengage as Torracat hauls Shiron up by the leg he is biting into as flames engulf Lillie's Pokémon.

Torracat lifts his head up before swinging and releasing his hold on Shiron's leg, sending her flying through a boulder as she lands before her Trainer. The flames die down as Shiron lays before Lillie trembling in agony as she shakily forces herself back up.

Torracat retreats back to Ash's side of the field and watches as Shiron eventually stands on all fours and gives a determined bark, though soon after she shudders as the leg Torracat previously bit into gives out unable to hold up Shiron's weight.

Lillie's wits return to her then as she takes a step forward intent on leaving her Trainer's box to aid her Pokémon only to hear a loud tweet from the referee who looks to her disapprovingly, cWhat did I do?"

"You leave your box before the battle is done, and you'll be disqualified!"

"But Shiro-" Before Lillie can continue arguing with the ref, Shiron barks to her whilst giving Lillie a similar disapproving look.

"Shiron, I don't understand what you are trying to say?"

"Believe in her." Lillie blinks as she looks up to see Ash give what is to her an uncharacteristic firm look.

"This is what being a Pokémon Trainer truly is about, Lillie. Believing in your Pokémon's strength and will to fight, and believing enough in yourself to repay the faith they are putting in you to help guide them to victory." To that Ash gets a racuous cheer from the audience finding themselves captivated with the confidence in Ash's tone.

Lillie meanwhile feels apprehensive from the intense aura coming off of the normally carefree and jolly friend she is currently battling. Lillie turns away from Ash to Shiron who is nodding in agreement whilst looking to Lillie trying to convey faith in her through her gaze.

Lillie closes her eyes and focuses on drowning out the thunderous applause of the stadium audience finding their noise making it difficult to focus or even think. The only sound that reaches her is that of her own heartbeat before she hears the cheers of the classmates she isn't on the battlefield with.

"Don't give up, Lillie!" _'Mallow.'_

"You and Shiron got this!" _'Kiawe'_

"Show everyone how far you and Shiron have come and how much further the two of you will go." _'Lana'_

Amidst the encouragement of her friends one other voice reaches her. This one speaks softly but to her it sounds out louder than the others, "How are you supposed to fight me if you lose here, Lillie." _'Gladion.'_

Lillie's eyes snap open as gives a determined glare finding the cheers of the crowd returning to her ears, but now they don't seem to bother her as much. The same can be said for the intense presence Ash is giving off.

As a cold aura begins to develop around Lillie as her Z-Ring glows faintly with gold light, Ash frowns and closes his eyes, _''Did our friends forget to root for me as well. Either way, 10 seconds.'_

Lillie presses her hand to the Icium Z her Z-Ring holds.

_'15 seconds.'_

Lillie crosses her arms as the cold aura intensifies. The audience falls into a hush as a large white snowflake made of energy appears before Lillie.

"Snow silently fluttering down from the heavens..." Lillie spreads her arms wide before extending them forward crossing her arms again as Shiron mimics her trainer.

_'20 seconds.'_

"Countless glimmering crystals of ice." Lillie extends one arm to the left before doing the same.

_'25 seconds! Just attack already. You don't need to waste time making a spectacle of it!' _As Lillie raises her arms above her and lowers them whilst crossing them once again as the Z-Rings glow brightens even further, Ash nods to Torracat who envelops himself in flames. "O, freezing Z that covers the land..."

As Lillie finally gets to the part of the Z-Move that you need to do to actually start it, the flames surrounding Torracat burn hotter turning from orange to blue.

"Along with my heated soul, return now once more to the heavens!" As Lillie extends her arms out to Shiron a light blue aura envelops her before extending out in streams to Shiron and bathing her in the power of the Z-Move.

_'35 seconds too slow.' _Ash softly orders out his final attack just as Lillie calls out the Z-Move.

"Subzero Slammer!" "Flare Blitz."

As the ground around Shiron freezes over and she is about to elevate, Torracat has already bridged the distance towards her crossing the battlefield more resembling a blazing blue comet than an attacking Pokémon.

Torracat strikes Shiron with a loud bang followed by a powerful long hiss as his intense flames clash with the ice quickly shifting its state of matter from ice to water before quickly boiling into steam as the battlefield is enveloped in the after affects of the two moves making contact.

The stadium is quiet as the only sound anyone hears is the hiss of steam. Eventually though the steam cloud that's covered the battlefield begins to dissipate. When it does Lillie let's out a gasp as she sees Torracat looking a bit put off having gotten a bit drenched.

Shiron is on the on ground unconscious. Lillie falls to her knees stunned silent unable as she let's out a quiet, "What?" as the referee declares her Pokémon can no longer battle so Torracat is the victor and that Ash will be progressing forward in the conference.

The audience explodes in jubilation having enjoyed the 'shocking turnaround' Lillie's opponent pulled. As Ash strides onto the battlefield to crouch down and collect Shiron and bring her to her Trainer, Torracat quickly drys himself off as he follows after his Trainer who stops before Lillie and places Shiron before her.

"It took 35 seconds for Subzero Slammer to get to the part of the move where the Pokémon can actually do anything with the move. In that time Torracat could have beaten Shiron 3 times over. It normally takes 5 to 8 seconds for the Trainer to get the Z-Move to transfer it's power over to the Pokémon. That's still enough time for Torracat to finish Shiron off." Having said his peace Ash turns around and leaves Lillie on the battlefield to prepare for his next fight.

* * *

**AN: I don't get what the show has been doing lately with Lillie's character motivation. Is she trying to become an actual Pokémon Trainer now? Or is trying to find her dad like Gladion is? If so, couldn't she or her brother just use the money they have to hire someone to find their dad? They are pretty much rich kids after all.** **_Isn't that how they solve most of their problems?_ **

**I don't necessarily think going on TV through participating in this big...**

**Cut to a clip of Guzma saying, "schoolyard fight" followed by a clip of him speaking in Engrish, "That's Life."**

**that Kukui organized. I mean they let Team Rocket and Samson Oak compete so we shouldn't consider this League's legitimacy is a bit suspect in my opinion.**

**Not to mention Guzma and Plumeria are competing as well though they aren't criminals or an abomination. They are just delinquents I'd liken to the jerks who kick sand in your face at the beach and take your girlfriend.**

**And you'd love every second of it. (If you happen to be PokémonRangerBoy12 from YouTube.)**

**Then there's the fact that Mohn probably has amnesia and is probably playing volleyball on Poké Pelago with some Swimmer Class Trainers.**

**Cut to a clip of a furious Lusamine who quickly storms off to find a Nihilego and go Mother Beast on Mohn's ass.**

**Lillie and Gladion don't know this. We have no guarantee about this other than ot happened in the games, and if he does have amnesia whose to say he even has TV on that island or would get his memories jogged if he saw his kids.**

**For all we know, Mohn could be dea- (CENSORED BY 4KIDS!) Banished to the Shadow Realm.**

**I just think this whole Mohn thing could be better resolved if Gladion and Lillie hired a detective (Pikachu?) to find their dad.**

**Regardless of how the Mohn situation progresses. I don't see Lillie going very far in this League. She will most likely only get as far as battling Gladion and will probably lose to him. **

**PKMNRangerBoy12 joked about Lillie winning the League back in the episode where she got the Icium-Z and I can't see it actually happening. Though if she did, she'd probably make Lana, Mallow, Kiawe, and Sophocles her Elite Four. Ash would be a bit upset getting the short end of the stick here and would probably flee for the Galar region to put everything that happened in Alola behind him and pretend it never happened. Like he did with BW going forward to XY like I did and will do with series when we the Sword and Shield anime.**

**I don't see Alola lasting long with Lillie and the 4 other schoolkids as their principal defenders against the Ultra Beasts, Team Skull, or Team Rainbow Rocket._ They'd probably do a better job defending the region than any of the other Elite 4s and Champions did._**

**Rambling over now. See you guys in a week or so for the next match. Bye****-onara!**

**Next Chapter: The Qualifying Rounds Part 1 of 3: Ash vs. Mallow! A Battle Bond Restored!**


	2. The Qualifiers I

**AN: As of when I started writing this chapter, it was the day before the episode the League airs. I stopped and picked back up around a few days after the Manalo Conference Arc's second episode aired.**

* * *

**The Qualifying Rounds Part 1 of 3: Ash vs. Mallow! A Battle Bond Restored!**

Ash let out a sigh as he sat in the locker room watching some of the other participants in the League battle through a TV mounted on the wall showing the League broadcasts. Team Rocket had apparently decided to participate in the League for no reason other than the fact that no one is going to stop them from participating.

Ash felt a bit bad for whoever Jessie and James had to beat in order to advance the qualifiers. Unfortunately for them they got paired against Plumeria and Guzma respectively for this round. Who put up much more of a fight than the little kids Team Rocket beat in the prelims.

At least Ash was able to stop Team Rocket from 'consoling' those kids by offering to 'borrow' their Pokémon so that Team Rocket could train to them to be stronger like their Pokémon. (When in actuality those kids would probably never see their Pokémon again.)

Ash let an amused snort out when Guzma's Golisopod tanked Black Hole Eclipse leaving James and Mareanie baffled before Golisopod came down on them with fury and Liquidation quickly wearing away at what little strength Mareanie has left, 'James should have considered that after 3 successive Iron Defenses, Black Hole Eclipse wasn't going to do much to Golisopod.'

For some reason Nanu seemed incredibly nervous when Guzma asked James where exactly he got his Z-Ring from, which prompted some suspicious looks from the other Kahunas. It wasn't helped when James was about to answer only for Nanu to interrupt by calling for the next matches participants to come to the battlefield.

League officials soon haul James out of the arena he passed on his Z-Ring to an arrogantly grinning Jessie. As Hapu asks the other Kahunas if the participants are allowed to share a Z-Ring, a stoic Plumeria passes Guzma on her way to the Trainer's box. Guzma gives her a nod before continuing on to the locker rooms.

Plumeria nods back before taking her place at the battlefield to imperiously stare down Jessie who is laughing haughtily having taken note of the lack of Z-Ring on Plumeria's wrists.

As Jessie mocks Plumeria over not having access to a Z-Move to win the fight, James is tossed into the locker room Ash is at, followed shortly after by Guzma who takes a seat by Ash to watch the fight.

"Not bad wearing down Mareanie's defences with Liquidation before finishing her off."

Guzma nods taking the compliment before smirking as Plumeria asks where exactly Jessie got her (and James's) Z-Ring from. Guzma turns to Ash and gives him a mocking look before speaking amusement laced in his tone, "I really liked how you wiped the floor with you friend's pet after pepping her up and letting her think she was going to win."

To that Ash grimaced recalling Lillie hasn't said a word to him since their match, though whenever he's around her she shoots him an accusing glare whilst muttering to herself about how could Ash have hurt Shiron like that.

Ash turns back to watch the ensuing battle where Jessie taunts Plumeria by saying that if she wins then maybe Jessie will answer her question. This prompts Nanu to start quietly praying to the Tapus that Plumeria somehow doesn't win.

The battle starts soon after with Plumeria's Salazzle charging in and breaking Mimikyu's Disguise with Iron Tail before retreating as Mimikyu let's loose a Shadow Claw.

Salazzle avoids a Shadow Ball and responds with launching a score of Sludge Bombs at Mimikyu who receives the hit. Mimkyu closes the distance attempting to hit Salazzle with a Wood Hammer only to have to fall back when Salazzle attempts to strike Mimikyu with a Heat Wave attack.

As James cheers Jessie on, Ash shares his sentiments on the battle with Guzma, "There's no way Jessie's going to win. Salazzle's Poison/Fire typing makes her very resistant to Mimikyu's strongest attacks which are Wood Hammer and Mimikyu's Z-Move. Jessie's only hope would be if Shadow Claw manages to score a really powerful hit on Salazzle."

James gives Ash a look for his critical assessment on his partner's unlikely odds at winning this battle, Guzma smirks as Mimikyu tries to lash out with Shadow Claw again only to get sent back via Iron Tail.

Jessie whose grown frustrated at this point not liking how only her Pokémon has been taking hits instead of landing them orders Mimikyu to bombard Salazzle with Shadow Balls whilst Jessie replaces the Darkinium Z in her Z-Ring with the Mimikium Z. Salazzle holds back the onslaught of spectral spheres deflecting some with Iron Tail and occasionally releasing a flaming pulse of fire from her body courtesy of Heat Wave to get rid of others.

As Jessie finishes the series of poses needed to start the Z-Move, Plumeria let's a small grin develop as Mimikyu's costume expands in size before the Disguise Pokémon leaps up and towards Salazzle.

Salazzle disappears under the cover of Mimikyu's ratty outfit, Jessie smirks victoriously whilst the sack bulges in various places as cartoony sound effects are heard to illustrate Mimikyu pummeling Salazzle within her ensemble.

Plumeria meanwhile has closed her eyes and crossed her arms whilst tapping her feet as she waits for the Z-Move to end. Jessie mistakes this for Plumeria having given up when Jessie started the Z-Move.

Before Jessie can taunt Plumeria some more a loud clang is heard from within Mimikyu's enlarged disguise, silencing any potential jabs Jessie would have thrown out. Another clang is heard followed by a third before the costume rapidly expands whilst sizzling with heat.

The costume soon shrinks back down to normal size as Mimikyu hops off a somewhat scuffed up Salazzle, and with some difficulty attempts to crawl away from the grinning Toxic Lizard Pokémon.

Jessie stares befuddled before angrily asking Plumeria how her Salazzle isn't out of commission whilst ordering Mimikyu to hit Salazzle with a Shadow Claw.

Mimikyu stares at it's Trainer, earning a snarl from Jessie, before bobbing the head of it's costume left and right to let her know how she feels about that order. As Jessie's Rage builds she pulls at her hair and stomps at the ground whilst the audience can't help but laugh at this turn of events.

Jessie tries commanding Mimikyu again and orders a Shadow Ball attack which Mimikyu acquises to, willing to only use an attack that doesn't require getting close to Salazzle.

As Mimikyu charges up the Shadow Ball, Plumeria speaks up, "To answer your earlier question of how Salazzle didn't get knocked out from that Z-Move earlier, here's my answer:" Plumeria's eyes snap open as she stares Jessie down who recoils in fright, "Protect."

The Shadow Ball flies out to hit Salazzle, a bubble of blue energy forms around Salazzle preventing Mimikyu's attack from landing.

It dawns on Jessie what specifically happened under Mimikyu's costume during the Z-Move she let's out a frustrated screech having gone through this nonsense when Mimikyu debuted it's Z-Move with Pikachu who just had to learn Electroweb and used it as if it were Ash's old Counter Shield technique.

As the force field around Salazzle dissipates, Plumeria orders out an Iron Tail having grown bored battling this loud annoying woman.

Mimikyu can only let out a quiet whimper before Salazzle lunges and sends Mimikyu into unconsciousness with Salazzle's last attack.

Ash gives an impressed whistle whilst James sulks in a corner and Guzma grins savagely enjoying the showing his subordinate gave, "You're not the only one whose figured out a strategy or two for dealing with Z-Moves."

Ash nods in agreement to that whilst James sulks in a corner in disbelief that Team Rocket got taken out so easily in this Conference, Jessie's Rage has hit a fever pitch as she curses Nanu's name for giving her and James this useless Z-Ring.

Manalo Stadium falls to a hush after that as Nanu buries his head in his hands cursing himself for giving those idiot criminals a Z-Ring, whilst his fellow Kahunas look to him with growing exasperation.

"Nanu, you idiot! What kind of cop gives Pokémon Thieves access to a power that will pretty much let them steamroll most weak wild Pokémon and inexperienced Trainers?" Hapu angrily states with a scowl directed at her fellow (soon-to-be former) Kahuna.

Nanu raises his head and throws a pained grin directed at his fellow Kahunas, "In my defense..." Nanu trails off as the grin drops.

Olivia gives Nanu an annoyed look as he just stares at them without bothering to finish his sentence, "Well?"

Nanu hangs his head, "I've got nothing." This prompts a facepalm from the other Kahunas, "At least I kept that Ketchum kid from getting a Darkinium Z. He'd probably kill us all, letting him screw around with black holes."

"You're not helping you case here, Nanu." Hala tells him whilst sighing internally, "What with deciding some idiot** criminals** should be allowed to mess around with black holes instead."

"Fine. I didn't give Ketchum the Darkinium Z because I didn't like him."

"Nanu, your job isn't to give Trainers who beat you whatever Z-Crystal you feel like giving them." Olivia starts whilst Hapu gives her a confused look, having done something similar when Ash 'defeated' her.

Meanwhile down on the battlefield Jessie is dealing with some League officials who confiscate her Z-Ring, and Z-Crystals before dragging her away to turn the Team Rocket member over to an Officer Jenny.

Fortunately Jessie won't be alone since James is taken away to get thrown in jail as well. (Probably for all of a few hours before that Bewear the trio has befriended busts them out.)

Ash heads out to his next League Match, hoping he'll have peace from those three nitwits until the League is finished.

* * *

Mallow grinned confidently towards Ash who was growing suspicious at having been pitted against yet another one of his classmates, "I'm not going to go down easy Ash, I have to avenge Lillie and Shiron for you and Torracat being so rough with them.'

As Mallow sends out the only Pokémon she has for this Conference Ash contemplates if she understands that in League Tournaments if you want to win, you don't hold anything back. Anything less would be an insult to your opponent. If they can't take a loss well then maybe they need to reevaluate the logic that drove them to compete in this League.

Ash scowls and shakes his head, not particularly liking that chain of logic being applied to his classmates, even if he did think to himself at times all of them barring Kiawe were being a bit arrogant thinking all they would need to get this far is a Z-Move and a little training for the 1 or 2 Pokémon they had.

'At least Cameron kept his Ace hidden until the second part of the Quarter Finals.' Ash thought bitterly before pulling put a Poké Ball he had kept with him since Kalos that he had emptied some time before leaving Kalos, and had remained empty up until a few days ago.

"Mallow, I want to introduce you to an old friend of mine from Kalos." Seeing the curious stare Mallow is giving him Ash continues, "Up until a week ago he was traveling through the Kalos region cleaning up the aftermath of an incident me, and him got caught up in that involving a nihilistic fruitloop."

Mallow's look goes from inquisitive to confused, the referee meanwhile throws Ash an impatient look, "It's a story for another time. Mallow say hello to my Battle Bond partner. Let's go! Greninja"

Ash send out his first catch from Kalos and earns a number of different amusing reactions from his classmates, and some other noteworthy spectators for this League.

Lana squealed in excitement seeing an awesome looking Water-Type amongst Ash's team, Kiawe gulped in fright seeing a powerful looking Water-Type amongst Ash's team, Nanu gawked at the intimidating Dark-Type amongst the team of the kid he wrote off for lacking the edge that someone with a Dark-type Pokémon would have.

Bonnie and her brother who were in Kalos with Serena, Puni-chan, and Z2 (who were in their 10% Forms.) were all watching the Manalo Conference broadcasts excited to see Ash and Greninja fighting together again.

Lastly Mallow and Tsareena felt a bit of apprehension both aware that despite Greninja's weakness to Grass-Types any Pokémon of Ash's is certainly going to be a tough Challenge to overcome.

Greninja stood with his arms crossed and his eyes closed before they snapped open with a resolute stare that intimidated Tsareena, "Grenin."

Mallow snapped out of her stupor to shake her head before asking the obvious question, "When did you have the time to book a flight for Kalos, find Greninja, catch him, get on a plane and come back here to Alola in time for the League?"

"I didn't. Greninja did."

"Oh, I see- Wait what?"

As a befuddled Mallow tried imagining how a Greninja would get plane tickets to the Alola region, "Initially when Greninja finished his business with the Megalith Zygarde Roots, he and Puni-chan went to Lumiose City to have my friend Clemont get Greninja back to me."

A confused Kiawe slowly repeats Megalith Zygarde Roots to himself trying to make sure he heard that right, whilst Ash continues his explanation, "Clemont tried using a Long Distance Teleportation Tile he made to send Greninja to me, but it didn't work out."

Ash decided to withhold the fact that the Long-Distance Teleportation Tile malfunctioned initially and Ash had to skip class for a day because Greninja got fused together for a day, mostly to spare Clemon some embarrassment on national TV.

At least Clemont's latest invention didn't explode, and Ash and Greninja learned a new move whilst fused together as Ashninja during their time trying to evade Faba and Team Rocket who wanted to capture them in the latter's case and dissect them in the former's case.** (AN: I or someone else should make that a fanfiction.)**

"So instead at Bonnie's suggestion, Serena, (Who was visiting them at the time whilst she waits for Hoenn's next Grand Festival in a few weeks) caught Greninja in a PokéBall and mailed the PokéBall to me." 'Along with another Pokémon I released in Kalos.'

"But then how did you put Greninja back into his old PokéBall? And how does this Serena..." To that **Tsareena** looked to her Trainer confused at hearing her name, "Know Kukui's address?"

"I keep in contact with my friends through phone or video calls. They all know I'm staying at Kukui's place, and as for Greninja being in **his** PokéBall, I released him after pulling him out of the mailbox so I could catch him and make Greninja **my** Pokémon instead of Serena's." Now Mallow's only Pokémon is looking at Ash confused wondering why he and her Trainer keep talking about her in relation to her opponent.

"Anyway I can answer the rests of your questions later. Once I've won this match and the next two matches I have to get through to qualify for the Quarterfinals and this day is done as far as the Conference is concerned." Mallow shot Ash a pout not liking how he seemed certain that he and Greninja were going to win.

The referee at lasts announce the battle to start, Mallow decided to start things off by forcing Ash and Greninja into a corner. So with a bit of hesitance she started performing the prerequisite poses needed to activate Bloom Doom.

Ash shook his head giving Mallow points for not dragging out the buildup to the Z-Move like Lillie before nodding to Greninja who glanced upwards to the sun in the sky that is shining high over the battlefield, before turning to Ash and nodding back whilst glancing towards his shadow, before turning back to Mallow and Tsareena who have finished preparing the Z-Move.

Greninja closed his eyes as, Mallow announced her next attack, "Bloom Doom!"

As Tsareena is suffused in a powerful green aura, Greninja leans backwards.

The light around Tsareena erupts upwards into a great radiant pillar reaching for the heavens and the battlefield becomes a flower field. Greninja falls backwards as the light of the Z-Move expands his shadow greatly.

Another pillar of green light descends down upon where Greninja is at. Greninja hits the ground on his back. Except when he does he sinks into his shadow and disappears.

A corona of light erupts from Greninja's spot on the battlefield before shifting into a large blooming flower bulb of power. The shadows spurred forth from Bloom Doom extend out towards and behind Tsareena connecting with her shadow before disappearing into it.

As the Bloom Doom dissipates and dusts disperses Mallow looks to the battlefield with a grin confident that took Greninja out or at leasts made it so her next attack could finish him.

When at lasts the battlefield is clear for Mallow to see, her grin drops as she sees Greninja's nowhere to be seen. Ash meanwhile sports a confident grin, "Here's another thing about Z-Moves that makes them not as big of a threat as they seem. They can be dodged if you know how to do so."

"What!? How!?" Mallow says whilst searching the battlefield for Greninja like Tsareena is doing so, 'Lana says Greninja can learn Mat Block. A Fighting-Type version of Protect. If so where is he? And Bloom Doom still should have dealt some damage!'

"Greninja, strike now whilst they're confused!" A blast of smoke erupts out from behind Tsareena obscuring Mallow's view of her. From the smoke Mallow hears a strange sound faintly like a low hum followed by a strong gusts of wind and crackling sound like ice shattering upon hitting something hard. The next sound distresses Mallow as it's the pained cry of her Pokémon, "Tsaree!"

Before Mallow can call out to Tsareena to asks if she is okay, Greninja leaps out of the smoke cloud. Trails of smoke clinging after him before dispersing along wisps of darkness disintegrating into the air from where one of his three digited webbed front feet appears clenched as if Greninja was holding something there a moment ago.

Greninja lands before his Trainer with his back to Mallow and her Pokémon, the smoke disperses to reveal Tsareena struggling to stand whilst clutching at her side where a cut has been applied to her.

The cut is strange though as around the area of the injury is ice that is spreading up Tsareena's torso. Another thing of note is a few wisps of darkness dissolving like the smoke, but they are so faint one could mistake it for their eyes playing tricks on them.

Mallow calls out Tsareena's name in distress, whilst Ash has Greninja finish this battle before Tsareena can exert herself any further.

Greninja nods in affirmation before turning around, though he winces faintly and Glances down to his left leg to note a large number of small cuts on his leg. With a mental curse for not completely dodging the Z-Move, Greninja shifts his weight to his other leg before spreading his arms out.

Water vapors in the air gather around his Greninja's extended webbed paws. **(AN: Not exactly the correct term to use here, but calling them feet would be confusing.)**

The water vapors coalesce into a pair of Water Shuriken for each paw Greninja has. Greninja reels his arms back before swinging them forward, sending the Water Shuriken flying towards Tsareena who struggles to stand as Mallow orders a Sunny Day to stop the ice from spreading via Tsareena's Leaf Guard Ability. (And as a side effect, weaken Greninja's attack.)

It unfortunately is too late for Tsareena to do the move that would prolong this battle further as the Water Shurikens make contact with her and explode in a watery spray of mists once again hiding Tsareena from Mallow's sight.

In that instance Greninja dashes forward and spins as he has one arm extended whilsts darkness coalesces around his paw. Before Greninja's attack can fully form he disappears into the mists where Tsareena is.

A low hum is heard faintly again before an audible clang that is followed by Tsareena being sent out of the dispersed water and landing in a heap before Mallow unconscious. The water vapors that obstructed Tsareena and Greninja during their final exchange suddenly are drawn inwards before amassing into a large Water Shuriken that Greninja stands ready to throw if Tsareena gets back up. A large number of dark wisps trail upwards from Greninja's unoccupied arm before turning to dematerializing once they've traveled high enough.

Mallow is equal parts confused and saddened as she recalls Tsareena finding her legs shaking as they want to give out under her, "I don't understand. I finally got the Z-Move right. How did I lose?"

As Greninja let's the Water Shuriken turn back to water vapors and returns to Ash's side, his Trainer speaks, "There's more to battling than Z-Moves. You should have started with Sunny Day to weaken Greninja's water attacks or used Low Sweep or Trop Kick to start off strong and weaken Greninja for the rests of the fight. Magical Leaf may have also done you a world of good. Anything but an attack that took 15 seconds to hit Greninja and can't be redirected to follow it's target if they move out of the way."

Ash recalls Greninja and turns to wait out his next battle, but stops as Mallow calls for him one lasts time, "But how did Greninja even dodge Bloom Doom?"

Ash pauses before turning back to Mallow with a grin, his eyes closed, and a response that draws a pout from her, "It's a secret."

Meanwhile having watched the battle play out, Guzma smirks wickedly, "Not to me it isn't. I figured out your tricks Ketchum. When we fight, I'll beat you down. You, that frog and mouse, and anything else you throw at me. Only one person here in this League is going to show Kukui who the strongest Trainer in Alola is, and that's going to be me."

Guzma laughs maniacally whilst Plumeria stands nearby bearing a calculating stare intent on making it to the Quarterfinals where the Pokémon Battle Royales are to be held for those 2 rounds. She'll be there alongside Guzma no matter what to aid him in crushing this Ketchum kid.

* * *

**AN: Apparently the preliminaries of the League were going to be a Battle Royale where the sole Trainer remaining would progress to the Top 16, but the League had 151 participants when it started. You don't get 16 from 151 divided by 4. You get 37.75 from those calculations. If you want 16 participants left after the preliminary battle royale round has concluded, you should stop accepting participants after you have gotten 128.**

**You don't stop accepting people for the league when you are at an odd number. If you don't stop at 128, you keep going until you've got 256. At which point you can have 2 Battle Royale rounds to thin the herd down to 16.**

**What we get in canon apparently is the League only really starts at the Top 16. Which is just lame considering Lillie, Mallow, Lana, and Sophocles wouldn't ever get that far in a conventional League. Kiawe would certainly be screwed once the League has progressed to the part where you have 6 on 6 battles.**

**And they let people who should be in jail or far away from this League so they don't cringe it up like Team Rocket/The Revengers and Samson Oak.**

**I have a feeling Kiawe isn't going to get that fight with Ash since Ash is battling Hau in the top 8 after beating Faba's (He should also be in jail.) Hypno with Meltan. (Somehow that will happen despite Meltan's utter lack of battling experience.)**

**Ash has to have his final battle with Gladion and his rematch with Guzma. Which are far more interesting battles to see than an apparent rivalry the show has done nothing with in it's entire runtime. (Other than set it up early on and mention it again 70 episodes later, before forgetting it again.)**

**Failed attempts at establishing a rival for Ash early on aside, I'm going to wrap things up here with another preview for the next chapter.**

**Next Chapter: The Qualifying Rounds Part 2 of 3: Ash vs. Sophocles! Brawling Bugs and Struggling Steel!**

**Also if anyone asks about the smokescreen Greninja used, it was because he had a Smoke Ball in hand for that battle. Bye-onara!**


	3. The Qualifiers II

**AN: Faba yet again proves why Lusamine should have fired his ass a long time ago. (Perhaps when he was the cause of the Mother Beasts Incident in this show.) Ash faces Faba in the Top 16 of the Manalo Conference, and Faba has his Hypno force Meltan out of his Pokéball so Faba could get an easy win.**

**Presumably because Meltan is the weak link in Ash's team due to being the newest addition.**

**Unfortunately Meltan's appetite for all things metal + Hypno's pendulum = defeat for Faba who apparently didn't train Hypno well enough to the point that it could still fight without the pendulum.**

**(The rests of my rambling about the League and the newest episode will be saved for the end of the chapter.)**

* * *

**The Qualifying Rounds Part 2 of 3: Ash vs. Sophocles! Brawling Bugs and Struggling Steel!**

"What was Principal Oak even doing taking part in this Conference?" Ash asked himself upon seeing the conclusion of Hau's battle with the Principal of the Melemele Pokémon School.

Hau's Decidueye made short work of Oak's Komala via keeping in the air and out of reach of Komala's Rapid Spin. Another contributing factor to Hau's win for that part of the match was Decidueye's Long Reach Ability allowing him to use Leaf Blade as a ranged attack so Hau didn't have to risk Decidueye getting put to sleep via Komala's Hypnosis.

Oak's Alolan Exeggutor unfortunately couldn't get any of it's attacks to connect due to Decidueye out speeding Dragon Hammer and Leaf Storm and not staying in one place long enough for Exeggutor to get a lock on Decidueye so it can be held in place via Confusion. Earthquake was useless since Decidueye kept off of the ground.

Still Ash has to give props to that Exeggutor for barely tanking Decidueye's Sky Attack. (Something Ash will remember for his and Rowlet's eventual battle with Hau.) A critique Ash would have given Hau is that he probably could have finished the battle with Decidueye. He didn't need to switch in his Alolan Raichu.

Setting up Electric Terrain so Raichu's Surge Surfer can amplify her speed was showing off.

Ash gave an impressed whistle as Hau's Raichu finished the battle by improvising a Continental Crush via using Psychic to gather up all the destroyed boulders that dotted the battlefield up in the air to crush Exeggutor with them. (Said boulders ended up in that state courtesy of Exeggutor's earlier Dragon Hammers missing Raichu and giving the Palm Tree-like Pokémon a splitting headache.)

"He's pretty good. I can see him making it far in this League. Provided he doesn't face me in the next round." Ash turned to see Gladion enter the locker room, the edgy teen's eyes focused on the screen Ash was previously watching. He studied the image of Hau smiling widely whilst rewarding his Raichu's efforts with some maple syrup.

Ash threw his rival for this region a smirk as he spoke, "I disagree. I have a good feeling Hau wouldn't go down to you easily. He's come pretty far since I first battled him. His Flareon took out Hiroki's Mudbray in one attack with Iron Tail."

"Whose Hiroki?"

"No one important." Cue said person of no importance cursing the Tapus for his existence as a pointless filler character.

"Pikarla's Pikachu: Boss got taken out in the first round of the Qualifiers by Hau's Raichu when her Stoked Sparksurfer beat Boss's Catastropika." Before Gladion could asks who Pikala is, Ash answered that she's some weirdo Pikachu fangirl with an annoying quirk involving ending her sentences with Pika. Said quirk wouldn't be so annoying if she didn't try to annoy other people into adopting the quirk.

Cue Pikala huddled in a corner nearby depressed by the knowledge that the awesome Pikachu Trainer she wanted an autograph from finds her annoying, "Senpai hates me."

Ash and Gladion chose to ignore the depressed filler character in the room with them, "As I said earlier, Hau has come a long way since I first met him. His rate of progress is astounding considering that in just over a month he went from not having a Z-Ring or Z-Crystal to call his own to now having presumably 2 Z-Crystals at the leasts."

"At the leasts?" Gladion asked with an inquisitive look.

"In order for him to battle Hala he had to have earn the Normalium-Z. He beat Hala and presumably has the Decidium Z so his Decidueye can use Sinister Arrow Raid and if Hala will let Tapu Koko steal my Fightium Z and replace it with an Electrium Z," _Thanks for that by the way Tapu Koko.' _Ash thought bitterly since he would have preferred the Fightium Z and would have rather earned the Electrium Z at a later date, "I figure he'd make a similar exception for his grandson."

"So nepotism basically." Gladion surmised.

"There's a lot of that going around considering your sister and the rest of my classmates are taking part in this League despite most of them having not taken part in the Island Challenge."

"I think it'd be best you not bring up my sister considering what happened between the two of you in the preliminaries." Gladion said whilst throwing a Mean Look at Ash. Ash nodded not really bothered by it since he's had a Pokémon Hunter threaten to kill him in the parts who was a fare amount more intimidating than Gladion is.

"Continuing on Hau more than likely got the Z-Crystal for Stoked Sparksurfer from Olivia upon completing her Grand Trial which would require Hau having completed the Brooklet Hill, Wela Volcano, or Lush Jungle Island Trials. If he didn't do all three of them." Ash finished as Gladion nodded impressed that Ash has figured out whatever ace Hau may have on hand for their coming battle, and what Hau has managed to achieve in just over a month.

"I only did the last two of those Trials since I didn't have any Pokémon on hand who could use the Waterium-Z." Hau announced as he came into the locker room with Raichu following behind still enjoying her maple syrup.

"Hey there, Hau. Congrats on advancing to the Top 32." Ash said to the boy who beamed brightly enjoying the praise. Gladion meanwhile took notice of a disturbing peculiarity going on with Hau's Raichu and Ash's Pikachu whose nearby enjoying a bottle of ketchup.

"Do all members of the Pichu line have a weird fondness for condiments?" Gladion asked with a deadpan expression on his face as the two Mouse Pokémon enjoyed their treats noisily.

To that Ash and Hau gave a shrug as Ash got up to leave and head for his next match. Though he spoke to himself quietly with frustration at how he keeps getting 'randomly' pitted against his classmates. Pikachu elected to remain with Gladion, Hau, and Raichu since Ash figured it would be overkill to use Pikachu against his next opponent.

That and Pikachu still needs some more time to refuel after the extended last minute training Ash had him undergo whilst Ash took part in the first couple of rounds for this Conference.

Learning a new move, relearning a move he hasn't used in years, and building up the stamina to use the move again without being on the brink of exhaustion can take a lot out of a mouse.

* * *

In contrast to Mallow who was confident when she faced off with Ash, Sophocles was the epitome of nervousness. Ash's sudden character shift to being very intense and serious is one contributing factor to Sophocles frayed nerves.

Another factor would be the fact that he is the center of attention for the hundreds of people gathered today to see him and everyone else compete. Not to mention all the cameras broadcasting this for the whole region to see.

_'How does Ash and the others do this. This is terrifying. Picturing them in their underworld isn't helping.' _Sophocles thought negatively finding staring at the ground around his feet is much less scary than facing the world.

"Sophocles?"

_'Why did I even compete? I'm not a fighter like Ash, Lana, or Kiawe.'_

"Hey, Sophocles!"

_'Maybe I should just forfeit here? It'll save my Pokémon a beating from Ash's Pokémon, and I'll be spared the embarrassment of losing horribly?'_

"SOPHOCLES!"

"Aah!" Cried the diminutive boy who leapt in fright and collapsed to the ground, having been too wrapped up with his negative thoughts to see his opponent come up to him.

Sophocles looked up to see Ash looking down to him with a concerned expression, "Are you okay, Sophocles?"

Sophocles stared up at his classmate confused before recalling they were supposed to have a battle, "Ash, I..."

Before Sophocles can asks if he can throw the match, he finds Ash's hand extended down to him. Hesitantly Sophocles takes Ash's hand and finds himself pulled to his feet.

Once Sophocles is back on his feet Ash throws him a reassuring grin, "Alright buddy. Let's give everyone a great battle."

Ash turns to return to his side of the battlefield, but pauses upon hearing the other boy quietly murmur his name.

Ash turns around and looks to Sophocles curiously, "What is it, Sophocles?"

"I can't do this. I can't battle. This is too much! I tried imagining everyone is in their underwear, but in my head everyone seems more attractive." Sophocles stammered out quickly as he t.d urns his eyes back to the ground.

_'Why does that sound like a reference to that kid's show about the guy who lives under a pineapple under the sea?'_ Ash thought curiously before he stepped up to Sophocles and put his hands on the shorter boy's shoulders. Sophocles flinched as Ash did this, but he raised his head up a bit to look Ash in the eyes for a moment.

"Here's what you need to do Sophocles..." Ash said giving the boy a soft, but firm look whilst speaking gently.

Ash speaks again after Sophocles gives him his undivided attention, "Just forget everyone else is here. The only people whose presence you need to acknowledge for this fight is me, my Pokémon, the referee, your Pokémon, and finally the most important person here."

"Whose that?"

"You."

"Me?" Sophocles asked uncertain whilst looking at Ash dubiously.

"Yes, you." Ash answered back as he took his hands off Sophocles shoulders.

"That works?"

"It's worked for me everytime I had to compete in a big stadium." Ash told him with a confident grin that Sophocles felt was offset by the shaky look Ash'e eyes are giving him. The keener part of Sophocles's mind would conclude the shakiness was done intentionally on Ash's part to let Sophocles know he's not alone in wanting the ground to swallow him up. Sophocles though is too focused on Ash to acknowledge that observation.

"I was terrified when Brock told me the Indigo Conference was going to be this big public televised event."

Seeing he's captured Sophocles attention Ash presses on, " I thought to myself at the time, 'What if I screwed up and made a fool of myself for everyone in Kanto to see and remember for years to come?' I almost considered not competing at all for the Conference."

"You still competed though." Sophocles stated with uncertainty on his face feeling doubtful of this story.

"Because Misty pretty much ingrained it into my head that not doing so would be a betrayal to all the efforts me and my Pokémon went through to get that far." Ash stated with a grimace remembering how his first traveling had to emphasize her point with that big cartoony mallet she kept around for some reason, "And Brock gave me the same sort of advice I gave you."

Having said his piece Ash turns and goes back to his side of the battlefield leaving Sophocles to mull over what Ash has told him, the turmoil he has experienced before has grown quiet. After a few more moments Sophocles pulls himself from his thoughts and nods with certainty as he brings out Vikavolt, his attention solely directed towards his opponent.

Ash gives Sophocles a confident grin as he sends out his Pokémon, "Let's go, Heracross!"

* * *

As Ash's battle with Sophocles is about to commence Lana sat in the locker room bearing an annoyed scowl as she watched Ash and Sophocles match. The source for her irritation being how she nearly losts her last battle with that Master Fisherman. Nagisa initially fared well against the Fisherman's Psyduck.

At leasts until Psyduck got a headache from Nagisa's Double Edge.

Things went terribly for Lana there. Nagisa got one shotted by Psyduck's headache empowered Psychic, and Primarina was thrashed around for a bit until she was able to freeze Psyduck over with an Icy Wind and then knock him out with Surf.

Then the Fisherman sent out Poliwrath who had Bulk Up and Poison Jab on top of having Water Absorb which made half of Primarina's moves worse than useless. Fortunately Primarina learned Disarming Voice at some point unknown to Lana.

Still she came too close to losing like that. Hopefully sending Nagisa home to learn a few moves whilst getting acclimated to his new form with her personal ride Lapras's help will give Lana a better chance for her future opponents in this League.

"So how'd your last match go?" Hau asked awkwardly trying to make small talk with Gladion who like Lana was watching Ash's fight.

"Annoying." Gladion asked whilst bearing a scowl recalling the idiocy he had to put up with in that battle.

"How was it annoying?" Hau asked curiously.

"I got one of those wrestling idiots the Masked Royal gets annoyed by. Prick thought he could win his match his if he had his Magmortar direct it's Flamethrowers near me to scare me into not giving Lycanroc any commands."

"And?"

"He was wrong considering my Lycanroc didn't take well too some idiot threatening my wellbeing. An Outrage followed up with a Stone Edge showed that moron the error of his ways, though..." Gladion trailed off as his scowl darkened.

"Though what?"

"The idiot referee didn't disqualify that moron as soon as he had his Magmortar threaten me. I can't tell if he thought that was staged to make the battle more dramatic for the audience or if he was payed off to let my opponent do whatever he wants."

"Oh."

"The moron certainly didn't help his case what with the fact he kept ordering the Poliwrath he had to use moves it either didn't know or couldn't learn. Which implies it wasn't his Pokémon."

"Well that stinks." Hau said bearing a frown wondering why Kukui, the Masked Royal, and the Kahunas let those guys compete.

"Tell me about it." Gladion said whilst shaking his head, "I certainly hope I don't have to deal with the other wrestling idiot taking part in this Conference. I can only tolerate so much stupidity for so long."

Hau nods in agreement hoping that his next opponent doesn't end up being that guy as he and Gladion return to watching Ash's match progress. It'd be unfortunate that once this round concluded Hau would find himself pitted against the very moron Gladion and he didn't want to deal with.

* * *

Vikavolt beat a hasty retreat evading what would have been a devastating Focus Punch if it had connected, Sophocles mind was whirring as he had Vikavolt fire a Signal Beam to keep Heracross at bay, _'Heracross's moveset should be: Focus Punch, Megahorn, Sleep Talk, and Hyper Beam. Focus Punch needs time to charge up before it can be used whereas Hyper Beam has to recharge before it can be used again.' _Sophocles withdraws from his thoughts to have Vikavolt launch a Zap Cannon that Heracross dodges by just a hair.

_'Heracross can't do anything with Sleep Talk since Vikavolt doesn't have any moves that cause that status effect. Vikavolt fortunately is able to outspeed Heracross and it's Levitate Ability allows it to go high up in the air where Heracross's own wings can't help him reach that high with his Physical moves. It's been a couple years since Ash and Heracross have battled with each other and Heracross is far from the state he was in when he competed in the Sinnoh League.' _Sophocles concluded as he took note of the frustrated look on Ash's face with a grin, "So my best move would be to..." Sophocles muttered quietly as Ash ordered Heracross to use Hyper Beam.

Heracross tensed up as he prepared to fire the attack. So Sophocles chose moment to make his move, "Vikavolt, use Discharge!"

Vikavolt answered by releasing multiple bolts of electricity at Heracross. The bolts connect as Heracross let's out a pained cry as the attack connects preventing him from carrying out Ash's order, whose now sporting a shocked look on his face. Which grows as the attack subsides and Heracross is still giving off sparks whilst sporting a grimace.

_'I can actually win this!' _Sophocles thought with a grin as he turned to Vikavolt not noticing Ash's sporting a grin for a moment before it disappears, "Vikavolt use Sky Drop on Heracross to finish this!"

Vikavolt spreads it's pincers apart as it gets close to Heracross before closing them on him trapping the Single Horn in Vikavolt's grip. Vikavolt then ascends up into the air into on then diving down with Heracross taking the brunt of the impact for Vikavolt.

Sophocles turned his gaze to Ash whilst sporting a grin eager to see how shocked Ash will be at losing this first part of the bout to Sophocles.

Except when Sophocles looks to Ash, the Trainer from Kanto is also sporting a grin which causes Sophocles to drop, "What?"

"Heracross, Facade!" Sophocles expression turns terrified as he looks back up to the two Bug Pokémon, just in time to see a red aura develop over Heracross whose eyes have turned red.

"Oh crud, Heracross has Guts." Sophocles mutters with a frown as the red aura is briefly replaced with an orange one as Heracross levels a glare at a now nervous Vikavolt. Heracross soon brings down a fists on Vikavolt's head earning a pained cry from the Stag Beetle who soon releases Heracross who spreads his wings and puts some distance between himself and Vikavolt.

"I don't understand! A minute ago Heracross was..." Sophocles said as he watched Heracross level a red glare at Vikavolt whilst the crimson aura returns accompanied with stray sparks of electricity popping up intermittently.

"Putting up a facade." Ash said whilst giving Sophocles a vicious grin. To emphasize his point Heracross flitted about outpacing Vikavolt's increasingly desperate Signal Beams and Zap Cannon shots showing Heracross has no problem staying high in the sky whilst outmanueveuring Vikavolt's attacks despite the paralysis slowing him down just enough for the attacks to glance by.

"I wanted you to get a bad impression of Heracross's capabilities so you'd let your guard down and use Discharge to paralyze him when you thought Heracross was going to use Hyper Beam before you followed up with Sky Drop." Ash told Sophocles glad he had taken Ash's advice in having Vikavolt learn Sky Drop in case he ever gets in a battle with his rival Horacio.

_'Time to make Sophocles regret doing that.' _ Ash thought as Sophocles bore a small frown about to asks what Ash would have done if he Vikavolt use Zap Cannon instead of Sky Drop, "Heracross, Smack Down!"

"Double crud!" Sophocles muttered as Heracross thrusts it's arms forward and fires a pair of gold energy orbs that explode open nailing Vikavolt. Soon after that, the Bug and Electric-Type Pokémon drops from the sky and crashes into the ground.

Heracross descends soon after as the dusts settles around where Vikavolt made impact. When the smoke settles Vikavolt is seen struggling to get up off the ground.

Ash lets out a whistle, impressed at Vikavolt's tenacity. Sophocles on the hand cringes as Vikavolt gives a distressed cry as after a moment it hovers close to the ground unlike previously where it could manage staying at least 3 feet off the ground.

Sophocles nods to his Pokémon as he turns a determined glare towards Ash and Heracross and starts pulling off the poses needed for Savage Spin-Out.

"Heracross, get ready!" Ash says as Vikavolt is enveloped in a green hue of energy, Heracross nods as he cocks a fists back.

Soon after doing so Vikavolt shoots a thick strand of silk that connects with Heracross's chests before the Bug/Fighting-Type finds himself encased within a cocoon.

Vikavolt then swings the cocooned Heracross up in the air.

Unfortunately before Vikavolt can swing Heracross down into the ground, Ash signals Heracross to take action, "Bust out of that cocoon now, Heracross!"

A muffled warcry from Heracross is Ash's response before a tearing sound is heard from the cocoon.

In a panic Vikavolt quickly slams the cocoon down into the ground. Unfortunately just a few seconds before the cocoon makes impact, Heracross tears his way out via his horn that radiates a intense green glow courtesy of using Megahorn.

"Triple crud!" Sophocles stated with a cringe as Heracross goes from using Megahorn to Focus Punch. Heracross brings his glowing blue forearm down on Vikavolt's head like it's a warhammer ending this battle with a loud crash.

Sophocles hangs his head as he calls back Vikavolt and readies his next Pokémon whilst Ash opts to keep Heracross in to wear down Togedemaru to make things easier for Ash's second Pokémon.

As Togedemaru appears on the battlefield she searches for the object of her affection. Togedemaru's let out a huff not seeing Pikachu as she throws a cute glare at Heracross whose more amused than intimidated.

* * *

Meanwhile Pikachu let out a sigh of relief having dodged another member of his harem internally regretting he can't play clueless as well as his Trainer can. Unbeknownst to Pikachu, Hau's Raichu was shooting him bedroom eyes having grown enamored with the Pikachu after she, Hau, and the rest of his team looked up Ash's past League battles to learn what they could about they're biggest threat to winning this League.

At that moment Team Rocket's Mimikyu, Dawn's Buneary, Anabel's Espeon, May's Glaceon, Gary's Umbreon, and Sophocles's Togedemaru sensed a new contender has just entered the Waifu Wars. Pikala's Boss broke from his depression at getting bested by his evolved form to throw a glare at Pikachu, wondering how that weakling has better game than he has at getting girls.

Feeling someone using Leer on her future hubby, Raichu gave Boss a chilling Glare that sent him cowering back to his corner. Having done that Raichu returns to checking out Pikachu who feels like he needs an adult right now.

It's unfortunate for Pikachu that Raichu is an adult.

* * *

Heracross dodged to the right narrowly evading Togedemaru's Zing Zap before firing a Smack Down sphere at the Roly-Poly Pokémon who responded by remaining curled up in a ball and adopting a faint green glow as her spikes extended outward.

The Smack Down orb connects and explodes, but Togedemaru quickly bounces out of the resulting Smoke cloud unscathed. Before Heracross can attempt at throwing a Focus Punch, the Electric/Steel-Type starts rolling again except this time she's not shrouded in electricity.

Heracross quickly opts to take flight not wanting that Rollout to connect. Togedemaru stops rolling soon after as she throws a glare up at Heracross who rears his horn back and prepares to hit her with a Megahorn divebomb attack.

As Heracross swoops in to strike Sophocles's first Pokémon, her Trainer calls out his next attack, "Use Bounce now!"

Now sporting a grin Togedemaru hops up into the air managing to get above Heracross as he's diving down. Doing a forward roll, Togedemaru extends her feet out and strikes Heracross in the back with them sending the Bug/Fighting-type to the ground with a pained shriek.

Togedemaru lands before the area Heracross has crashed at and throws a teasing look in his direction not able to make out what's become of her opponent due to the displaced dirt and smoke.

Togedemaru soon regrets this as Heracross emerges from the smoke and smacks Togedemaru into and through a boulder with Facade. Having achieved this Heracross falls to one knee as his red aura from Guts begins to recede, Heracross looks to his Trainer who gives him a nod before recalling Heracross as Togedemaru shakily pulls herself out of the rubble of the boulder she crashed through.

Sophocles gives Ash an odd look not quite seeing the logic behind his choice as the 2nd Pokémon he'll be using for this fight, "Why are you using Meltan? Flash Cannon will only do a 4th of it's normal damage. Unless you use Corkscrew Crash which will still only do a 4th of it's normal damage as well, but it at least does a bit more damage than Flash Cannon which admittedly still isn't much."

"True." Ash responds whilst Meltan flexes his little appendages at Togedemaru who stares at the diminutive Steel-Type confused, "But the same thing applies for Togedemaru whose only attack that Meltan isn't resistant to is Zing Zap."

Sophocles nods conceding that Ash's logic for going with Meltan is sound. Though as Sophocles looks to the Hex Nut they narrow upon seeing Meltan flex again as for a moment Meltan gains a purple metallic sheen, _'What was that? That certainly wasn't Harden. Meltan glows blue when he uses Harden.'_

"I also wanted to use Meltan at leasts once before I get to the Quarterfinals. There's no way this little guy will fare well in battles like those." Ash states whilst rubbing the back of his head not wanting to see one of the newest additions to his team get turned into molten metal by any of Kiawe's Pokémon, or by Hau's Flareon, or Plumeria's Salazzle.

"So I figured once Meltan's seen one or two battles that will be it for this League as far as he's concerned. I'll have him in the stands watching things proceed with Brock and Misty." Ash Ann ol unced as he looked to the audience stands where his first 2 Traveling Companions are sat watching the match proceed cheering him on.

Meanwhile Faba shuddered feeling that his 'genius' plan to beat Ash should he end up in a fight with said Conference Veteran during this League is jeopardy.

"Can I ask what move Meltan is using whilst he's flexing?" Sophocles stated as he saw Meltan use said move whilst doing his version of a bicep curl.

"I have a feeling you'll figure it out on your own soon. I'll give you a hint though: Meltan picked the move up from one of my slimier Pokémon." Ash said whilst throwing a mischievous grin in Sophocles direction whose eyes widen in realization, "Don't tell anyone what it is though. It's a surprise."

"Quadruple crud! Togedemaru, Rollout!" Sophocles ordered in a panicked tone as Togedemaru heeds his order though a slight bit confused about why he seems so desperate.

Meltan does slides to the right managing to evade the rolling Roly-Poly Pokémon who quickly swerves back around and tries to hit Meltan again.

The Pure Steel-Type refuses to get hit though via hopping over Togedemaru when she tries to run him down. Togedemaru's frustration builds as Meltan wags his red electrical wire tail in her direction.

Togedemaru goes back in for a third attempt at flattening the tiny Steel-Type, but only succeeds in Meltan dodging to the right and smacking her with his tail which _seemed_ like a pretty ineffective way of fighting back.

Sophocles let's out a curse as he realizes what Meltan is doing now, "Togedemaru, stop! Meltan's just softening you up with Tail Whip!"

Regardless of if Togedemaru heard her Trainer's warning, the Rollout attack has built up too much for Togedemaru to stop it now. So the porcupine Pokémon has no choice, but to continue trying to hit Meltan.

Her efforts are awarded yet again with Meltan tauntingly waving his tail at her aggravating Togedemaru to the point she wishes she knew or could learn Rage. Instead Togedemaru channels her wrath into one lasts Rollout attack as shuts out everything else around her and focuses solely on Meltan. Which is unfortunate timing given she doesn't hear Sophocles latest warning.

Meltan elects not to dodge this time as Togedemaru draws nearer. Meltan instead grabs his head and chucks it and the eye floating inside upward whilst he shifts the composition of his liquid metal body so that he can collapse to the ground and become a small puddle.

Just in time too as Togedemaru rolls right over him and collides with what her Trainer was trying to warn her about.

A particularly large stone boulder that managed to remain unscathed at this point in the battle.

"Oh, that's going to hurt like hell in the morning." Ash muttered quietly as Meltan's head dropped back down and the liquid metal Pokémon gathered himself together and 'stood' back up whilst Togedemaru struggled to pull herself out from boulder she embedded herself in.

Eventually Togedemaru succeeded in doing so and turned around to glare at Meltan for being the cause of this. Except when she did so, what she got was a Tail Whip to the face.

Togedemaru gave Meltan a flat stare at that point whilst the Hex Nut Pokémon turned to his Trainer with what would be a questioning look if Meltan had a face.

"Let's try that new move we were hoping you'd learn." Ash announced as Meltan nodded happily before turning back to Togedemaru and making her feel as if Meltan is giving an intense look.

Taking Togedemaru's confusion at what he's doing as a sign she has let her guard down, Meltan hopes backwards before hopping forwards and upwards whilst swinging his tail at Togedemaru.

Unfortunately all that succeeds in doing is annoying Togedemaru a bit as she feels her body has become a bit more squashy when physical attacks hit her.

Meltan hunches over and let's out the approximation of a sigh as Ash watches with a frown, "We'll try learning that move later. Smack her with your head really hard, Meltan!"

"Do you mean Headbutt?" Sophocles asks confused at Ash's wording, as Meltan grabs his head and lifts it up off it's proper place.

"Technically yes, but also no. This is my way of having Meltan work around the 4 move limit thing. Also you forgot to have Togedemaru use Spiky Shield." Ash informs Sophocles who curses out a quintuple crud as Meltan bonks Togedemaru on the head with his own head.

As Sophocles orders Togedemaru to use Spiky Shield, she justs gives Meltan an annoyed look and says, "Toge." Before collapsing backwards unconscious. Were Team Rocket's Meowth was here, he would have translated that as: Ouchie ouch.

Meltan happily puts it's head back on before hopping about gleeful at it's victory whilst a saddened Sophocles calls back his second and lasts Pokémon. As Meltan hops up high to give it's Trainer a high five Ash throws Meltan a beaming smile whilst congratulating Meltan for his efforts.

After calling Meltan back to his PokéBall, Ash goes up to Sophocles and waits patiently for Sophocles to speak. Sophocles doesn't take long to do so, "I losts."

"Yeah. I've losts battles in these Conferences too." Ash responded prompting Sophocles to level a frustrated look Ash's way.

"You ever lose this badly though?"

"Twice. For my firsts League I losts because my Charizard wouldn't do what I say and didn't think fighting a Pikachu was worth his time. So he justs took a nap like a big dumb jerk whilst I looked the biggest idiot the Kanto region had ever seen." Ash tells Sophocles whilst sporting a somewhat rueful smile prompting the other boy's annoyed look to turn pitying.

"I remember that battle. You did seem like a big idiot."

"Gee thanks, buddy." Ash said sarcastically whilst giving Sophocles the stink eye.

"But your Charizard seemed like the bigger idiot since if that Pikachu had used any of it's electric attacks whilst he was screwing around, he would have been in a world of hurt."

"That battle would have been different if Team Rocket had just left me alone instead of being the reason that Pikachu and Pidgeotto were too tired to properly fight."

"It probably would have helped if Squirtle knew Sleep Talk as well." Sophocles stated as he got up and started walking away from the battlefield with Ash.

"Probably would have helped if I knew Sleep Talk even existed at the time."

"You said twice earlier, didn't you?" To that Ash hanged his head as a depressed aura settled over him.

"There was no excuse for losing to Cameron."

"Yeah, he seemed like kind of an idiot."

"You have no ideal." Ash said thinking back to that moron in the headband.

As Ash chose to share some of his other less than stellar experiences at the League Conferences he took part in the pasts, the 2nd round of the Qualifiers drew to a close as the remaining 32 participants for the Manalo Conference get sorted out.

Upon learning who his next opponent is, Ash calls Taurosshit at this being random selection whilst Lana throws an intense challenging stare his way, resolved to not lose to him.

Ash considers just using Pikachu for the next battle but opts against it since that would justs be too cruel to Lana, and his luck with battles where he has the type advantage is terrible. Bests to go in with the odds againsts him.

So Meltan and his newest catch should work fine.

* * *

**AN: Only a few hours before the next episode drops. Will Jessie and James's battle end with them both getting found out and disqualified thus prompting one of the remaining 7 participants to get a free pass to the semifinals? (Please let it not be Lana or Kiawe.) **

**Will Gladion put an end to this nonsense Lillie has going on where she thinks she can compete in this League Conference with just a Alolan Vulpix whose only attack that would be a threat is it's Z-Move?**

**Will Mina wipe the floor with Sophocles? (Hopefully yes.)**

**Will Acerola deny us that big first and lasts rival battle between Ash and Kiawe that this series should have made happen a 130+ episodes ago? I hope so since I want Ash to have more interesting battles with Hau, Gladion, and Guzma. Kiawe is low tier when it comes to being a rival for Ash. ****The only reason he isn't bottom tier garbage is because he's not Trip or Cameron who are garbage.**

**Find out the answer to all these questions in the next episode of Pokémon Sun & Moon: Super!**

**Now time for some more of my thoughts on the lasts episode that aired.**

**Like I predicted (and alluded to last chapter.) Mallow managed to finally pull off Bloom Doom. It did nothing to Primarina though who had Icy Wind and took out Tsareena with Oceanic Operetta. **

**So it's a bit fitting that I had the final form of a Water-Type Starter beat Tsareena.**

**Granted though the battle wasn't concluded with a Z-Move clash where the Water-Type Z-Move somehow beat the Grass-Type one.**

**Guzma fights dirty by having his Scizor go after Ilima's Megaskhan's kid to use as a meat shield whilst whittling Mama down. Guzma had a very 'applaudable' strategy in my opinion. #GoGuzma**

**Hau brought an end to the reign of terror that was Abomination Joak. (Joke.) **

**Now we just need to have Principle Alolan Oak sacked and the Melemele Island Pokémon School shut down because Ash didn't learn anything there, and that place has been sketchy from episode.**

**What with there only being half a dozen students at the school, and the school faculty tops out at 2 people.**

**One of the other problems I have with this League is that so far the battles are 1 on 1 battles, which I attribute to nepotism on Kukui (And maybe Lusamine's.) part so that Ash's classmates have a chance at faring well in the League. I really hope Lana doesn't make it to the Semifinals, that way at the leasts, we can't have 3 on 3 battles (or anything beyond that.) for that part of the League going forward to the final round if she's there.**

**And that's all folks. Good night, and bye-onara!**

**Next time: The Qualifying Rounds Part 3 of 3: Ash vs. Lana! A Dragonic Debut!**


	4. The Qualifiers III

**AN: Decided to hold out on finishing and posting this chapter until after Hau and Ash's battle concluded. As usual I'll save mosts of my thoughts on the new episode for the end of the chapter. I will say this though...**

**Rowlet's a fucking troll and Hala abused his authority to rescind Nanu's decision to call the match over with Hau being the winner.**

**Hau was done dirty in this League. I'm attempting to do better to him.**

**AN #2: It's been two weeks by the time I have finished writing this and I've had some time to think over the Ash vs. Hau battles conclusion, and I'm still unhappy with it. Though I'm not feeling as ranty about it as I was initially.**

**Anyway onto the chapter.**

* * *

**The Qualifying Rounds Part 3 of 3: Ash vs. Lana! A Dragonic Debut!**

"Jeez, Lana. With that glare your throwing my way, I'm having a hard time thinking you're supposed to be a Water-Type Specialist." Ash points out to the dimunitive blue-haired girl facing him from across the battlefield. This only serves to intensify the heat in Lana's gaze, so much so that for a second Ash blinks and thinks Lana is trying to use Flare Blitz given the fiery aura surrounding her.

Ash opts to change gears here, "Lana, even if you win against me, you still only have 2 Pokémon. The next 2 rounds of this tournament are Battle Royales where everyone has to use a maximum of 3 Pokémon. So if they let you compete in those rounds, you'll be at a disadvantage over everyone else you'll be fighting against."

Lana's answer doesn't ease Ash's concerns, "Then I'll have mom send me my Ride Lapras over to fight in those rounds."

"I'm assuming your Ride Lapras is like Kiawe's Ride Charizard in that despite it being raised up for the purpose of getting a person from point A to point B, it can still hold it's own well in a battle." Upon receiving an affirmative nod from Lana, Ash continues, "You still have the problem of what are you going to do if you get to the semifinal and final rounds of this Tournament which are both 6 on 6 Full battles."

Lana's fiery aura diminishes rapidly as those words sink in for her, "Oh." A frown forms on the prospective Brooklet Hill Trial Captain's face, "I didn't consider that."

Ash sighs as he pulls down his cap to hide his look of frustration at the lack of Foresight of his classmates, "Trust me Lana, you're not alone in that regard."

Mallow, Sophocles, and Lillie (Who were watching this battle.) felt that statement may have been directed at them in addition to it being thrown Lana's way.

* * *

Meanwhile Kiawe who was annoyed that 3 members of his group that are no longer competing in this League, all opted to see Ash and Lana's fight over his fight with Generic Nameless Character. Kiawe paused in the midst of delivering the final blow to their forgettable Pokémon when he suddenly had the feeling Ash was talking trash about him behind his back.

This pause was just what Generic needed to tell his forgettable Pokémon, Shuckle to use Stone Edge to take out Kiawe's Charizard, thus forcing him to bring out his Alolan Marowak who quickly ended the fight with an Iron Head.

Kiawe resolved to make Ash regret this in the next round.

* * *

Now back to Ash and a better Water-type Preferring Waifu than Misty.

"Listen Lana. How about after this League is over, I help you and the rests of the gang catch and train some new Pokémon." Ash offers the girl he still can't believe is the same age as Mallow and a year older than Lillie and Sophocles. Okay maybe Ash can believe Lana is older than Sophocles, but being older than Lillie is a bit of a stretch.

Lana considers Ash's offer though she soon pouts getting the feeling Ash is thinking something snarky about her waifish appearance that contradicts her age. Eventually Lana questions Ash's reasoning for making this offer, "What's your reason for offering to do that?"

"It's sort of an apology for keeping distant from you guys for the past couple of weeks. Since we were competing against each other, I didn't want you guys getting any ideals of what me and my Pokémon have up our sleeves for this Conference." Ash states sheepishly whilst scratching the back of his head.

"It's also an apology for any of you guys who took losing to me too personally." Ash states whilst trying to not look in Lillie's direction. He's fortunate that the worst he got from Mallow is that she was disappointed to not be able to use Shaymin in this League. Though Ash will have to sit her down later and remind her that using a Pokémon you haven't caught in a Poké Ball for a League-sanctioned Tournament is cheating and grounds for disqualification from the League along with getting a negative reputation stuck to you and possibly being exempted from taking part in any other League-approved Tournaments for the region.

Misty whose waiting for the battle to start scowls at the notion of Ash attempting to take her future pupil in training Water Pokémon. Her scowl worsens as Lana considers Ash's offer.

Lana's expression is serious which contradicts her next statement which is quite comical, "I want to play and hug your cute Water Pokémon such as your Squirtle, Kingler, Corphish, Buizel, Palpitoad, and Greninja."

Oshawott from within his PokéBall in Ash's backpack, (That is being used as a cushion for Rowlet along with a number of Ash's other Pokémon.) cringed as if struck hard via a Dynamic Punch feeling that someone doesn't consider him cute, yet has the nerve to think freaking Palpitoad is cute.

Palpitoad smirks from within his PokéBall having gotten the feeling that he just got one up on that stupid otter he blames for why Ash barely used him in the Unova region.

The referee for their battle having grown impatient with Ash and Lana's bantering speaks up, "Can you two please get the actual battle started." He sighs and mutters under his breath, "Why do these twerps have to drag things out by chatting away when they should be fighting."

Ash narrows his eyes at the referee's specific wording in regards to using the word twerp, before looking the referee over and feeling a bit of relief that they don't have blue hair. Though Ash figures they may be wearing a wig and the cap they are wearing is to hide the upper portion of their face.

Ash shelves the matter of Team Rocket possibly interfering in the League for later, but resolves if they pull any of the BS that they pulled at the Indigo League that screwed him out of giving Ritchie and himself the awesome fight they deserved, he would personally see to those idiots getting locked up for a long time.

Overpowered Bewear who can't stop showing up and whisking them away before Ash can get the cathartic joy of seeing them blast off into the sky, be damned.

With a shrug Ash sends out Meltan who upon appearing on the battlefield hops joyfully into the air glad to get another chance to fight.

Taking note of Ash's Steel-Type Mythical Pokémon, Lana opts out of starting with Primarina and instead sends in Nagisa instead.

Ash frowns as he sees a Vaporeon appear on the battlefield instead of an Eevee. Ash turns a questioning look Lana's way as he holds the disappointment in his tone back. At leasts until he hears Lana's response to his next question, "Was evolving, Nagisa's choice?"

Lana looks confused hearing the nuetral tone in Ash's voice, more used to there being some emotion in it, "What?"

"Did Nagisa want to be a Vaporeon? Or did you pressure Nagisa into evolving after his loss to that Psyduck?" Ash states trying to keep his tone nuetral.

Lana gulps scared now understanding what Ash is trying to say. She speaks quickly wanting to not upset her friend (and in her dumb sister's opinion, boyfriend.) now that they are close to things being normal with them again, "I presented Nagisa a Fire, and Thunder Stone along with a Water Stone. I didn't exactly have the time to take him to a Mount Lanakila to find a Ice Rock or Lush Jungle to find a Moss Rock. Primarima wasn't around to help Nagisa learn a Fairy-type move and our bond isn't developed enough to see if he'd become an Espeon. Waiting for the sun to come down was also out of the question."

Ash takes a moment to process all that before stating his thoughts, "So in the end his choice was between being a Jolteon, Flareon, or a Vaporeon."

Lana winces hearing disappointment beginning to find it's way in his tone, "I told Nagisa he didn't have to evolve if he didn't want to."

"But did you say something along the lines, "But it would help if you did." Or something that would pressure him into becoming a Vaporeon."

"I didn't!" Lana yells distressed with her eyes closed and expression fearful.

Nagisa having enough of Ash giving his Trainer the 3rd degree, lunges towards Meltan with streaks of white trailing off of him.

Unfortunately all this earns Nagisa is a painful headache (that doesn't lead to a Power-Up because Nagisa isn't a Psyduck.) as she crashes into Meltan with an audible clang who just a few seconds before Nagisa reached Meltan, the puny Steel-type tensed it's body and used Not-Harden.

As Nagisa dazily retreats with a whimper, Meltan looks to the recently evolved Water-type worriedly.

Ash shakes his head and resolves to speak more over this matter later. Despite his preference that one of his newest Pokémon would ditch their Everstone and become a Dartrix, he still respects and cares for them enough to not force them to make a choice that there's no turning back from once it's been made.

"Meltan use that new move you ended up learning!" Ash ordered Meltan who turns to Ash confused before perking up as if an exclamation point appeared over his Hex Nut head. Meltan than starts waving it's limbs in the Vaporeon's direction, and nary a second later blue bolts of electricity reach out from Meltan and strikes Nagisa whose still working through her headache.

A moment later Nagisa seizes up as small sparks of electricity appears all over his body forcing him to his knees.

"Thunder Wave." Lana says with a frown as she pushes aside her fretting over Ash's probing into the exact circumstances of Nagisa's evolution for later, "Nagisa, try using Water Pulse!"

With a grunt whilst struggling to stand, Nagisa opens his mouth as a blue orb of water forms in his mouth. Nagisa then sends the Water Pulse hurtling towards Meltan.

"Meltan, busts that Water Pulse with Flash Cannon!" Ash calls out as Meltan nods and a second later a small sphere of white light appears in front of Meltan's head before a large Silver Beam of light erupts from the white sphere and spears through Nagisa's Water Pulse, before striking Nagisa whose attempt to dodge is foiled by his paralysis kicking in at an inopportune time.

A frown develops on Lana's face as she opts to take a page from Ash's book and indirectly calls out her next attack, "Use the move Lapras taught you!"

Nagisa struggles to stand and tries using that move only to collapse as his paralysis hits him again distressing Lana, "No!"

"Hit him again, Meltan!" Meltan doesn't need much more prompting as he fires another Flash Cannon at Nagisa.

"Roll to the right and throw out another Water Pulse!" Lana yells in a urgent tone that Nagisa responds by sluggishly rolling away just in time to evade Meltan's attack. Before Meltan can try hitting Nagisa again, the Bubble Jet Pokémon quickly let's loose a Water Pulse that upon making contact with Meltan releases a large surge of water onto the Steel-type who quickly shakes himself before looking back to Nagisa.

Though when Meltan does, Meltan sees 3 Nagisa'a where there should be one.

Ash blinks as he sees small yellow birds dancing in circles over Meltan's head, "What the heck?"

"Nagisa, Meltan's been confused! Let's try that new move again!" Lana states urgently to Nagisa who manages to stand up and with a loud cry of it's name the dispersed water droplets created from his earlier Water Pulse attacks begin to move back towards Vaporeon before they start floating in the air around him.

Ash curses having a good ideal what Nagisa is trying to do, "Meltan, finish this with Flash Cannon!"

Though all Meltan does is grip it's head and makes the closest approximation to groaning. As this happens rings of water form around Vaporeon who begins glowing a faint cyan light as strength returns to him and he stands perfectly upright though the paralysis still affects him.

After a few more moments of confused groaning, a light bulb appears over Meltan's head who looks to Nagisa with a determined glare before quickly scurrying towards the Water-type as the lightbulb disappears in a poof.

"Meltan, what are you-" Ash cuts himself off as just before Meltan reaches Nagisa, Meltan hops and turns in the air and swings it's tail at Nagisa that suddenly gains a grey metallic sheen to it.

An audible clang is heard as Meltan's Iron Tail strikes Nagisa across the cheek and sends him flying to the arena's edge where he lands in a heap.

"Nagisa, please tell me you're okay?" Lana asks with a worried look on her face. The response her Eeveelotion gives her is the Aqua Ring surrounding Nagisa pulsing as it draws in water vapors from the air before sending it to Nagisa whose cyan glow returns as he slowly picks himself back up.

Ash meanwhile sports an amused grin at the recent development to this battle, "Somehow Meltan managed to figure out how to use Iron Tail whilst being confused. First Pikachu and I try teaching him Thunder Shock to prepare him for Thunderbolt and he ends up learning Thunder Wave instead, and then this happens."

Ash looks to his Hex Nut Pokémon whilst sporting a fond grin as Meltan looks upward and sees the yellow birds flying around his head and starts hopping around whilst waving his arms about trying to catch one of the birds in his hands.

Ash's grin drops as Lana orders out Nagisa's next move, "Time to switch out, Nagisa! Baton Pass!"

Unfamiliar with the move Ash watches intently as Nagisa's Aqua Ring flows into a red bar of energy that forms in front of Nagisa who grabs it with his mouth and throws it skyward before getting pulled back into his PokéBall as moments later Primarina emerges onto the battlefield where Nagisa was previously standing with a fin extended out that catches the baton Nagisa threw into the air previously just as it was coming down.

"Prima!" With a melodic grunt, Primarina squeezes the baton causing it to burst as energy realeases from it before turning into water that forms a trio of rings that orbit themselves around Primarina.

Ash frowns as it begins to dawn on him what Baton Pass does, "Meltan, toughen up!"

Meltan's response is to look to it's Trainer confused whilst Primarina stands on it's tail and releases a melodic tune as an orb of water forms above her before bursting releasing a multitude of smaller pressurized bubbles of water at Meltan whose confused state results in Meltan taking the brunt of the attack.

The high-pressure water bubbles end up knocking Meltan back until he lands in front of Ash who bears a small frown.

Ash throws a worried look down Meltan's direction who gets back up and shakes it's head as the yellow birds circling above him disappear, "Meltan, can you still fight?"

Meltan looks to Ash and nods whilst giving him it's best attempt at giving a thumbs up.

Ash throws Meltan a grin hearing that, "Alright. I just need you to use one more move then me and the new gal will have all we need to end this battle."

Meltan gives Ash a determined nod as he turns back to Primarina and Lana, and then gives the two a determined glare.

"Primarina, Aqua Jet!" Lana orders not wanting Ash and Meltan to carry out whatever plan they are cooking up.

Water surrounds Primarina as she rises into the air and hurtles toward Meltan who stands tense and glares at her waiting for Ash's command. Meltan doesn't wait long as Primarina draws near, "Launch yourself with Iron Tail"

Meltan nods as he swings his tail down, it takes on the grey metallic sheen indicative of Iron Tail just before striking and cracking the ground with enough force to propel Meltan upwards just in time to avoid Primarina and her Aqua Jet.

"What!? How!?" Lana yells out baffled Meltan managed to pull that off who lands and turns back to glare at Primarina who is still using Aqua Jet and is doubling back to hit him again.

"Thunder Wave!" Meltan nods as he throws his little arms out and fires a blue bolt of electricity at Primarina.

"Dodge it!" Lana says a second too late as the Status move connects and causes Primarina's watery veil to disperse as she crashes a few feet before Meltan with the tell-tale sparks of electricity courtesy of paralysis.

"Good job, Meltan. Time to hand things over to our new teammate." Meltan gives Ash a nod before looking to Primarina and turning around and cheekily wagging his tail at her earning a scowl from the Soloist Pokémon as Ash recalls Meltan and pulls out an Ultra Ball.

Ash gives the Ultra Ball a confident grin, "Ready for your debut?" The Ultra Ball's rumbling is all the indication Ash needs to know how excited it's occupant is. Ash looks up to Lana across the battlefield as his grin widens and gains a savage edge to it that unnerves Lana, "Alright then! Let's go, Hakamo-o!"

From the Ultra Ball, the Dragon and Fighting-Type materializes in the air and does a forward flip as gravity pulls her down. As Hakamo-o descends she thrusts a clenched fists downward, that serves to crack the ground when she does a 3 point landing.

Hau who had just arrived from his last match for the day winces seeing Hakamo-o pulling that off, "Tried that once with Decidueye. I ended up falling flat on my face."

Hakamo-o then turns her head up to throw a viscous grin Primarina's way who recoils in fear, briefly forgetting that she has a type advantage over Hakamo-o.

Hakamo-o's grin grows as she stands up straight and throws her head back and let's out a war cry, "Hakaaa!"

Lana tries to maintain a strong front as she throws Ash a questioning look, "Where and when did you get a Hakamo-o?"

Ash is quiet as he observes Hakamo-o throwing test punches into the air. His eyes are narrowed as he observes Hakamo-o preparing for the fight. Eventually Ash focuses back on Lana and answers succinctly, "I went to Vast Poni Canyon a few days ago to take on the Trial there and see about earning a Dragonium-Z."

Hakamo-o winds back her fast and throws a jab out with a concentrated look on her face as Ash supplies her origin story, "Hakamo-o here was one of the Pokémon I had to fight to battle the Totem Pokémon. She was pretty impressed my Gible beat her and that the Dragon Pokémon I beat Totem Pokémon with was able to win despite not looking that tough in her eyes."

Hakamo-o let's a small toothy grin form thinking of that cute Gible who managed to best her in combat as she throws another jab. Her grin grows as she sees small sparks begin to crackle around the air displaced from her punches.

"She decided coming along with me and my Pokémon would bring her to stronger opponents than on the rare occasion someone goes to Vast Poni Canyon and heads in deep enough that Totem Kommo-o let's her fight."

Hakamo-o takes a readied stance as Ash finishes recapping her circumstances for her joining his team as Lana decides to next question the logic in Ash's choice of Pokémon to fight Primarina with, "You do realize Primarina is immune to whatever Dragon-Type moves Hakamo-o knows, is resistant to whatever Fighting-type moves Hakamo-o has, and finally Hakamo-o will go down in one hit if Primarina's Disarming Voice connects, right?"

"Hakamo-o will be fine. Me and my Pokémon do our best when at a disadvantage." Ash responds flippantly as he gestures for Lana to start the battle again.

Put out by that, Lana commands Primarina to use Icy Wind. The paralyzed Pokémon exhales a cold gust of wind with light blue sparkles inside in Hakamo-o's direction who doesn't need to be told by Ash to dodge the attack. Hakamo-o rolls to the left and starts running as the attack strikes the ground she was standing at and freezes it over.

Primarina keeps the attack going as she turns her head following wherever Hakamo-o goes. Soon though Primarina has to stop using the attack as her paralysis kicks in.

Ash and Hakamo-o to capitalize on this, "Hakamo-o, use Echoed Voice!" The Dragon/Fighting-type nods as she begins swishing her tale about as she shakes her head and throws her arms out towards Primarina.

Doing this results in the scales on her body to begin rumbling as audible and visible clanging sound waves are released from the scales and travel towards Primarina and hit her eliciting a slight pained grunt from the fully evolved Water Starter.

Though Aqua Ring kicks in and starts healing her drawing a frown from Ash who notes that if he and Hakamo-o want to take her out of the fight, he will need to quickly deal a lot more damage than Aqua Ring can heal over time.

"Again!" Ash declares as Lana commands Prinarina to use Icy Wind once more.

This time the sound waves are louder and travel faster as they meet and clash with Primarina's Icy Wind. No victor emerges from this clash of attacks as the two moves are of near equal power.

"Primarina, try Sparkling Aria." Lana issues to her Pokémon who rises up and sings to create the water orb before launching it as a cascade of smaller fast moving water bubbles.

Like before with Icy Wind though, the attack can't reach Hakamo-o as Echoed Voice intercepts the attack.

This time the Scaly Pokémon's sound move struggles to push back Sparkling Aria despite the fact it's speed, power, and the loudness to it has increased to the point Ash, Lana, and Primarina wince upon hearing the attack. Hakamo-o appears to have no problem with the loud noise.

"Disarming Voice!" "Take it!"

Lana is flabbergasted at Ash's response to her declaring to use the move that will end this fight for Hakamo-o. Primarina gives out a melodic shriek that sends a beam of purple hearts traveling towards Hakamo-o who guards herself against the attack.

When the attack connects Hakamo-o stands strong and waits for it to end. When it does, Hakamo-o relaxes and throws a baffled Primarina a mocking look.

"How did Disarming Voice not work? It's a Fairy-Type move!" Lana yells shellshocked.

"Sound based moves do nothing to Hakamo-o." Ash answers giving Lana a less snarky grin though it still holds a slight lilt to it.

"What are you talking about?" Lana questions throwing Ash a petulant look.

"Hakamo-o's Ability is Soundproof. The name of the ability should make it clear what it does." Ash answers in a tone like a teacher explaining to their student how exactly the answer they gave on a test was wrong.

Ash continues as Lana displeasure with his answer grows, "It's probably also a good thing Primarina isn't one of the lucky few amongst it's species who has Liquid Voice as their Ability. Liquid Voice makes sound based moves into Water-type moves which would make Icy Wind the only move Primarina has that can actually threaten Hakamo-o."

Lana scowls thanking Tapu Lele for small miracles since if Primarina had Liquid Voice, she would have lost to that Master Fisherman in the last round due to his Poliwrath having Water Absorb.

Whilst Lana fumes, Ash makes his next move as he plugs his ears and yells, "Turn up the noise, Hakamo-o!"

Hakamo-o roars in response as the rumbling of her scales starts up again this time they are shaking and clanging so much the vibration speed has traveled through the rest of her body making it appear as if she is using Extreme Speed whilst standing still to appear as a Hakamo-o like grey and yellow blur.

With a swing of her arms Hakamo-o sends the cacophonous attack at Primarina traveling at such speeds and volumes that Lana can't order a counter to the move before it can hit Primarina who is holding her paws to her ears trying to drown out the incredibly loud attack that has some people watching the battle regretting not bringing noise canceling headphones.

The attack connects with Primarina in a deafening crash that sends her flying back and digging a trench into the arena a few feet away from her Trainer. With a grunt Primarina rises exhausted as she feels her strength slowly return to her due to Aqua Ring, though she throws a glare at Hakamo-o due to her ponytail coming undone and getting dirt in it making her look like a mess.

Hakamo-o scoffs at this not caring much for appearances when in a climatic battle between two strong opponents that are to give each other their all.

Deciding enough was enough Lana opts to use the Z-Crystal for Primarina's signature Z-Move.

After giving Lana and Primarina the time to do the poses, Ash watches as Primarina rises (Ash blinks confounded as he thinks he sees a spotlight shine down on Prinarina.) and starts a siren's songs that draws all the water in the arena displaced from Primarina and Vaporeon's water attacks to gather up in a large sparkling bubble that hovers menacingly over the Soloist Pokémon.

Primarina turns a chilling glare Hakamo-o's way as she begins the next verse of the performance to have her attack close the distance between it and Hakamo-o.

Unfortunately she'll never get to see the song to it's end, "Let's steal the show Hakamo-o! One last time, Echoed Voice!"

With a battle cry and a sadistic grin, Hakamo-o leaps high into the air and throws a vibrating punch into the great water bubble.

At the moment Hakamo-o's punch with the Z-move connects, the bubble stops moving and a shudder travels through it, that draws a dumbfounded gasp from Primarina and Lana.

"No way!" Lana cries in disbelief before a thunderclap is heard from Hakamo-o scales just a moment before the bubble explodes releasing a great deluge of water that sprays outward towards Primarina who braces herself for the downpour.

As the impromptu rain shower from the failed Z-Move draws to an end, Hakamo-o lands in the battlefield with a grin directed at Primarina whose glaring balefully at her with wroth. Though soon Primarina snorts in amusement as she notes a change in Hakamo-o's appearance.

The scales on Hakamo-o's arms are chipped in some places or cracked in others, the scale on the end of her tail is missing, the one on her forehead has a crack going halfway down the middle, and one of the two along it's neck is missing altogether.

Despite all this Hakamo-o remains jubilant despite Primarina openly laughing at the ruined state of Hakamo-o's scales.

Lana sends a questioning look Ash's way, "When Echoed Voice gets loud enough, Hakamo-o's scales have a hard time staying attached to her. Or staying in one piece." Ash states as he picks up a small fragment of one of Hakamo-o's scales and puts it in his pocket.

Hakamo-o gives another battle cry eager to finish the fight as Lana bites her lip unsure what to do now, _'Sparkling Aria and Disarming Voice won't do anything. He'll just counter Icy Wind with Echoed Voice.'_

Lana sighs and bows her head knowing there's not much more she can do here to win, "Still I'm not going out without at least giving it my all. Primarina, try Aqua Jet!"

Primarina gives her opponent a determined glare as water surrounds her only to stop as paralysis stuns her and causes the water she was gathering to drop and form a puddle around her.

"It's our turn. Sky Uppercut!" Hakamo-o dashes forward and stops before Primarina crouched down with her fist reeled back glowing with white light.

A second later Hakamo-o rises and swings her fist upwards, a trail of light following after Hakamo-o's fist, driving it into Primarina's chin sending the Soloists Pokémon up into the air.

"Go after her and finish this fight with Thunder Punch!" Ash declares with finality as Hakamo-o leaps into the air after Primarina whilst swinging a fists back that starts crackling with electricity.

Lana closes her eyes and bows her head as Thunder Punch connects with her Pokémon eliciting a discordant shriek from her.

When Lana looks back up her Pokémon crashes into the ground unconscious as Hakamo-o lands tensed ready for the next battle.

With a shake of her head Lana recalls Primarina back to her PokéBall and sends Nagisa back out, her mouth set in a line, "Water Pulse."

"Knock it away with Dragon Tail!" The sphere of water that Nagisa fired at Hakamo-o is deflected as a result of getting smacked away by Hakamo-o's glowing green tail.

"Aqua Ring!" "Don't let her! Finish this with Thunder Punch!"

Nagisa let's out a desperate cry as the water on the battlefield flows towards him, unfortunately Hakamo-o reaches the Vaporeon first and lands a Thunder Punch that cuts off the Water-type's yowl and ends the battle as the water Nagisa was trying to form an Aqua Ring with stops flowing towards him as he is no longer conscious enough to direct them his way.

Seeing her opponent is down, Hakamo-o relaxes herself as the referee declares the match to be done.

Lana recalls Nagisa to his PokéBall and before looking down to the PokéBall with a tired smile as she holds out Primarina's PokéBall in her other hand, "Thank you, both of you. You two gave it your all."

When Lana looks back up she sees Ash approaching her, giving out a congratulatory fist bump to Hakamo-o who returns it with a toothy grin before following alongside him.

When Ash stops in front of Lana, he closes his eyes and takes a deep breathe as Lana grimaces and ducks her head expecting a scolding.

"I'm sorry."

Hearing those words result in Lana tearing her gaze away from the ground as she looks to Ash flummoxed, "What?"

"It was arrogant of me to judge what you do with your Pokémon." Ash continues whilst maintaining eye contact with the shorter girl, "I just didn't want to see you going down the path where you'll do whatever it takes to win, even if that means forcing your Pokémon to evolve when they don't want to."

Lana nods slowly in understanding with a small frown as she looks away and speaks nervously, "I think I was starting to go down that path when I learned our battle would be one of the last ones held for this round. I sent Nagisa home to learn Aqua Ring with my family and my Lapras's help."

"That's okay. Moves can be forgotten and relearned without much problem." Ash assures Lana as he offers a hand to her, "Friendships are harder things to lose and get back."

A small smile returns to Lana's face as she looks back to Ash and returns the handshake he's looking for. Though she doesn't let go of his hand after doing so which prompts a curious look from the Trainer from Pallet Town that Lana returns with a mirthful grin, "Come on. There are still a few more battles before they announce whose facing who in the Quarterfinals tomorrow. That's plenty of time to set things right with Lillie."

Ash follows after Lana who begins pulling him along by the arm as they leave battlefield. A determined look settles upon his face, resolved to make amends with the girl that in his time here in the Alola region has become something of a little sister to him.

A mirthful look develops after that thought, as Ash notes to himself that Bonnie probably wouldn't take well to having competition when it came to Ash doting on her.

Lillie is suddenly hit with a feeling of dread that she believes has to deal with her confusing warm and happy feelings towards a certain raven haired Trainer from another region.

The mirthful look on Ash's face drops as he hears the next words to come out of Lana's mouth, "And after you and Lillie make up, you can explain what you have been doing for the past couple of weeks before the League after you left when Kukui told us the League was being delayed."

Ash is going to have to amend a few things in his explanation if he is going to keep everyone surprised for what else he has in store for this League.

* * *

**AN: And finally after 2 weeks of delay, I have finished this chapter. Though I'll be going over it again to see if it flows well before I update the fanfic. So it's probably coming out after the next episode in a few hours.**

**Going forward with this fic I decided that the Battle Royales this take on the League will have shall be contained to just the Quarterfinal Rounds rather than before where the Semifinal round was also a Battle Royale. **

**The Semifinal and Final Match for this League will be Full 6 on 6 Battles. So in the case of certain characters from the show who don't have a full team or even 3 Pokémon, I'll be basing the rest of their teams for the next couple battles in this fanfic off of the Pokémon they have in the Sun and Moon games.**

**So this fanfic's Hau has a Flareon when we are being left in the dark if anime Hau has one or not.**

**Speaking of Hau in the anime... (Lot's of rambling and rants incoming, skip to Go Away Junichi if you want the next chapter's title and a bit of summary for what happens in it.)**

**He should have won his battle against Ash, and I say that as someone who usually (always) roots for Ash.**

**This isn't because I feel Ash didn't give the battle his all. He did.**

**The battle just showed Hau is the better Trainer since he _and _Decidueye gave it their all in that battle and they fought with the strength and skill they worked hard to obtain.**

**Ash is the more experienced Trainer though and that should translate to him being the better battler in that match.**

**Unfortunately a Trainer can't win a Pokémon battle alone. They have to be working together with their Pokémon for the whole battle and they have to both give it their all if they want to win.**

**Unfortunately despite being fired up initially about wanting to fight Hau's Decidueye again, Rowlet was too lazy to stay awake throughout the whole fight. **

**Or to stay awake when the Pikipek, Trumbeak, and Toucannon he used to live with before Ash decided to come to the Conference to work with Ash to help him learn a new move to give Rowlet an edge over Decidueye.**

**A Feather Dance that works more like a Substitute than an actual stat-lowering move.**

**The issue with Rowlet falling asleep in the middle of his battle with Decidueye and Hau being called the winner isn't that Rowlet was considered unable to battle because of a status move like with Squirtle during Ash's match with Ritchie at the Indigo league.**

**The referee who made that call for that match was an idiot in my opinion, and should be fired for not being able to tell a status effect apart from a Pokémon that's been KOed. **

**Since by his logic Sleep Powder and Hypnosis are more broken than Hyper Beam was in Gen 1, Rest is more useless and unhelpful than Splash was before Z-Splash, and apparently Dream Eater is unnecessarily torturing a downed opponent. (The last of these 3 statements is true.)**

**And I don't think Sleep Talk existed until Gen II.**

**The issue here is that Rowlet chose to take a nap. Rowlet chose to not battle anymore. That means he doesn't want to battle anymore.**

**A battle should be over when a Pokémon either is in a state where fighting anymore will do irreparable damage to them, they have been _knocked unconscious, _or they or the Pokémon's Trainer doesn't want to battle anymore.**

**Once any of these criteria have been met, the battle should be over and nothing should reverse that. Even if the Pokémon or Trainer changes their mind a moment later.**

**That's why I felt Mallow returning Tsareena because she doesn't want to see Tsareena get hurt anymore, and then Tsareena sending herself back out because she wants to fight more and they are allowed to continue battling after Mallow is told off by her Pokémon and Lana is a rule violation and their battle should be over the moment Mallow recalled Tsareena.**

**Unfortunately this League just won't subscribe to any of the rules the 6 other League Conferences Ash has been involved in have established. **

**Which leaves me feeling that if this League won't obey the rules whenever it pleases, then Guzma isn't in the wrong for standing against this League and what little it stands for.**

**It's like nobody involved with organizing the Alola League bothered to get a rulebook for any of the other League Conferences that are held on a yearly basis in the world.**

**To me Hala pretty much abused his authority as a Kahuna and the head referee for this Conference to have Ash wake Rowlet up and force him to battle again.**

**This battle was supposed to show us Rowlet at his best. This is Rowlet's most important battle in the series (If Ash intends on not using him for the next two or three battles, and I hope Ash doesn't make the mistake of doing that.) and he blew it. The last memory we will have of Rowlet is him screwing up big time. **

**We were supposed to see growth in Rowlet's character. ****He should have developed in some ways from the lazy, simple-minded, and sleepy bird he was at the start of the SM anime.**

**And Rowlet has progressed somewhat since then. Sure Rowlet needing an Everstone to use Seed Bomb is ridiculous and a transparent excuse on the writer's part to keep him in his base form because Rowlet won a popularity poll in a magazine and the writers want to sell plushies of a 'cute and funny' Pokémon to kids in Japan.**

**But at least Rowlet put actual effort into learning that move than how he learned Razor Leaf via taking a nap on a tree that Tapu Bulu enchanted with nature energy. It's still sad Rowlet needs a Tapu's help to learn such a basic and simple move like Razor Leaf.**

**The Everstone Seed Bomb thing is ridiculous since before this anime we have seen plenty of Pokémon use Seed Bomb without needing to hold a rock in their mouth so it could be the projectile. So is Rowlet just terrible at using Seed Bomb if he needs an Everstone as a crutch?**

**Heck if Rowlet needs to learn Seed Bomb then Ash should introduced Rowlet to his Sceptile, who Ash worked with back when he was a Treecko to teach the pure Grass-Type Bullet Seed, so the Forest Pokémon can teach the Grass Quill Pokémon Seed Bomb.**

**After all Seed Bomb and Bullet Seed are moves that work similarly enough in how they work and how they are learned that when Ash tried teaching Rowlet Bullet Seed, he learned Seed Bomb instead.**

**Moving past the episode where Ash felt he should actually train Rowlet for once and Rowlet is fired up enough to actually try for once all because Ash suddenly had butter fingers with getting his Grassium-Z into his Z-Ring so he can Z-Move one shot Hau when he previously had no competency problems with using Z-Moves and after the episode he never again has this problem. It's almost as if the writers wanted a cheap excuse for why Ash should lose to Hau in their first battle so Ash and Rowlet have a reason to try and grow stronger. That episode honestly felt like it should have aired 80 or so episodes sooner if we wanted to make it better.**

**The episode where Rowlet battled with Meltan was good since Rowlet learned a move without anyone's help or Rowlet needing to be forced into trying to learn the move.**

**But for what growth Rowlet did get at long last in the 3rd season of the show, they threw it all away and had Rowlet regress back to how he initially was for the sake of poor humor and a terribly written battle.**

**And Ash looks like a fool and putting his faith in Rowlet over a more sensible choice like Torracat whom Ash knows will give it his all throughout this battle. Rowlet shows that faith is misplaced and now it feels like Ash made a mistake ever bothering to catch Rowlet.**

**So yeah, I just can't like how the show has decided to end things with Rowlet.**

**And this all thanks to Junichi Fujisaku. The screenplay writer for this episode.**

**Junichi Fujisaku was a new addition to the Pokémon anime writing staff for this series, and if you ask me, he should either be let go or not allowed to have anything to do with episodes with Pokémon battles. Here are some episodes Junichi was the screenplay writer for.**

**Episode 28: Pulling Out the Pokémon Base Pepper! The well recieved baseball filler episode. One of the few good episodes Junichi has done from what I heard.**

**Episode 33: Big Sky, Small Fry. The episode that Lana took on Totem Wishiwashi to get a Waterium-Z with Popplio. Where Ash and Pikachu helped her complete the Trial. Didn't see it, but I now know enough about it to see the dumb/contrived BS in this episode's battle.**

**Episode 76: A Battle Hand-Off! I disliked this episode long before I even knew Junichi existed. Ash is denied an opportunity to battle Nanu whose a lazy ass and sends Ash to battle some Trainers with a Mimikyu at the Thrifty Megamart. **

**I already dislike the parts of the show where Ash goes to Ula Ula for his Island Challenge because Tapu Koko switched the Fightium-Z Ash earned from Hala with an Electrium-Z, thus denying us the chance to have Ash earn it from Sophocles through doing his Trial. **

**This was back when Sun and Moon started when we still doubted this whole nonsense about the Trial Captains not being Trial Captains for the whole show, so I figured Ash earning the Electrium-Z was going to tie into Sophocles's character growth into becoming a Trial Captain. **

**Like how Clemont left the party in XY briefly to ready himself for Ash's Gym Battle with him, so Clemont could give Ash the awesome Gym Battle he deserved. I guess there is a reason I call Sophocles, Lamer Clemont, after all.**

**But back to Ula Ula, I wasn't cool with there being no Island Trial at the observatory or Ash just skipping the Trials there and trying to get straight to the Grand Trial, and then have Nanu be okay with it at first. Why even have Ash or anyone do the Island Challenge if there are no Trial Captains and they are just going to be screwy with the rules?**

**So Ash not doing the actual Abandoned Thrifty Megamart Trial for the Ghostium-Z and instead having him fight Team Rocket who Nanu decided to give them of all people a Z-Ring, was lame.**

**It kind of makes the Kahunas and Tapus look shitty when they will deny supposedly scummy people like Guzma and Plumeria a Z-Ring, but give even scummier people like Team Rocket a Z-Ring.**

**Team Rocket winning against Ash again because of Mimikyu's signature Z-Move debuting was lame, but acceptable since Ash could confront Nanu about giving them a Z-Ring and probably tell Kukui, Hala, and Olivia what Namu has done.**

**But then the Junichi Fujisaku BS happens. Pikachu blocks a Z-Move by learning Electroweb. Which is a pretty meh move compared to Electro Ball that I hated for replacing Volt Tackle.**

**It was a stupid and contrived way to win the battle and an equally BS, but not agitating way I'd accept Pikachu surviving Let's Snuggle Forever is Ash suddenly remembered to use Counter Shield.**

**After beating Team Rocket through having stupid Plot Armor, does Ash get a Ghostium-Z? No. Does he ever make anything of Nanu giving Team Rocket a Z-Ring? No.**

**And oh, I just learned this from bulbapedia. Ash uses the literal never gets explained Deus Ex Machina Z-Move, 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt.**

**As if that episode could get worse. Anyway onto the n****ext episode since the only thing that comes from that episode is Ash battling Nanu and not getting a Darkinium-Z because Ash isn't dark and edgy enough. (But Team Rocket are dark and edgy to keep the one they stole despite being the furthest thing from dark edgy.)**

**Episode 79: Showering the World with Love! (The english sub names are crud compared to the original Japanese ones.) A good filler episode about Minior that I hear it's high points are apparently about how Poipole makes friends with a Minior that later breaks out of it's shell to return to space where they fade away into the aether. Depressing. But good considering it was handled well in a kid's show. Junichi should stick to filler and filler alone. **

**Episode 104: That's Some Spicy Island Research! The episode where Ash meets and gets into a battle because Hapu assumed the first people to take an interest in her radishes are the thieves who have been plaguing her and Ash is too much of a battle hungry idiot to care to clarify he's not so Pikachu gets rekt by Golurk. **

**Junichi seems to like characterizing Ash as a moron who can't think or plan his battles. Projecting much, Junichi?**

**Episode 109: A Grand Debut! Another episode I hated with a burning passion before I knew the thing it shares with other episodes I like. The conclusion to Ash's Island Challenge is a 1 on 1 fight. Ash's opponent uses Ground-Types. Pikachu, Torracat, and Lycanroc are weak to Ground-Types. Rowlet is the Pokémon with moves strong against them who isn't weak to them.**

**Unfortunately Rowlet is squishy and Rowlet, so Ash has no good Pokémon on hand for this battle.**

**Ash uses Pikachu against Hapu's Mudsdale.**

**The bullshit in this battle... Ash wins because luckily Mudsdale gets a little water on him and becomes a Water-Type because that's all it takes to replicate Soak apparently.**

**Ash didn't plan for this, it was convenient. And worst of all it's a callback to Ash vs. Brock and lots of people questioned the legitimacy of Pikachu's win over Onix because of the sprinklers going off.**

**This was a terrible attempt to call back to that episode.**

**I would have been happier if Ash had done the Vast Poni Canyon and Mina's Trials as prep work for the Final Grand Trial and in the process Ash gets a Hakamo-o in the manner I described this chapter who knew Aqua Tail, Rowlet learned Steel Wing in order to beat Totem Ribombee, and Ash had a training episode to help Lycanroc so it could beat Gladion's Lycanroc for their next battle via having Dusk Lycanroc learn Drill Run.**

**Then have Ash do a 3 on 3 fight with Hapu where Ash can't use Pikachu and has to rely on Rowlet, Lycanroc, and his new Hakamo-o coming through and winning the battle. That would have been a better and more satisfying way to handle the end of the Poni Island Arc than the crap Junichi gave us.**

**Episode 129: The Great Fray! Battle Royale 151! I hated this one before I knew who Junichi was as well. **

**First of all it's not a Battle Royale. It's a big chaotic free-for-all that IS the schoolyard fight that Guzma predicted the League would be like that would make it suck.**

**Second of all too many battles are quickly resolved via one shots from Ash and his classmate's Pokémon. I hate one-shot battles in any shape or form that isn't from One Punch Man. Also Lillie kill steals, Kahili shows up for only a few seconds and it's presumed Ash took out her Skarmory though we can't confirmed that since she got the shaft this League like Hau and Plumeria.**

**Speaking of Hau and Plumeria. Do they get to do anything for this match? We don't see Hau do anything but apparently he got to the Top 16. Plumeria had Ilima and his Eevee on the ropes, until she didn't. **

**Screw Junichi for denying Plumeria more battling time, but apparently Jessie and James disguised as the two useless idiot lab assistants Sycamore hopefully fired should get to go to the top 16 instead.**

**Lillie kill steals from Kiawe and plays it off as teamwork, Kiawe's a one trick pony with Z-Move one shotting his enemies, Togedemaru has a second move finally, and Nagisa and Shaymin win off, but we don't get to see how.**

**Also Mallow cheated using a Pokémon that she doesn't officially own via having caught said Pokémon.**

**Thirdly the League starts with 151 participants and I was annoyed with that for the longest time since it was an odd number, it wasn't 128 or 256 which would would have made more sense, and I didn't know why the writers went with that stupid number.**

**Then eventually someone pointed out it was a reference to how many Pokémon there were in Gen 1. I usually don't care about Pokémon excessively pandering to Gen 1 for Gen 7 due to the 20th anniversary, but barely anyone would catch this pandering. So what's the point of implementing it?**

**So I also hate Junichi for pandering to Gen 1 in a stupid manner. If he was a smart ass about it, then maybe I would be okay with it. Maybe.**

**And the last Junichi Fujisaku written episode I hate (Or in this case, will hate.) is Episode 138: The Finals! The Strongest Rival Showdown!**

**It hasn't aired yet and all we got to go on is it's title and speculation, but since Junichi has a terrible track record with battle episodes I'm already cringing wondering how he will screw up what is hopefully the first part of the Alola League Finale and the Final Rival Battle between Ash and Gladion.**

**The only hope that the League will end on a high note is that the final match is a two part episode and Junichi or some other hack isn't writing the second part of the battle.**

**So here's my very salty verdict about Junichi Fujisaku. I don't like the battle episodes you write. You aren't good at them. You give Ash poor characterization, the battles have some stupid BS happen so someone can turn things around and win, and you effectively ruined Ash's Rowlet for me who I held some hope would do something good at this League to make up for doing nothing for most of the series and the Everstone nonsense.**

**Go away Junichi.**

**Next chapter: When Divergence Occurs. Ash's Preparations for the Alola League!**

**So you guys are getting a flashback chapter as filler to explain why this League is different, show some of what Ash has done to train his Pokémon for the League, and how Hakamo-o joined the party. **

**See you next update everyone. Bye-onara.**


End file.
